MSU LIBRARIES “ RETURNING MATERIALS: PIace in book drop to remove this checkout from your record. be charged if book is FINES wiII returned after the date stamped beIow. 111 (211130 AUG 0 9 2.003 fiZléfiDg 5 5;? :11 117:2 90-3 0CT5052010 511111 "3 220-11 JAN 01; 1 2000 . 11111 2111121112 ” JUNEO 0’ 2015 I l b A STUDY OF THE EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY COMPOSITIONAL STYLE OF FLORENT SCHMITT BASED ON AN EXAMINATION OF PSAUME XLVII AND LA TRAGEDIE DE SALOME By Jerry Edwin Rife A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Music 1986 4—...— ABSTRACT A STUDY OF THE EARLY TWENTIETH—CENTURY COMPOSITIONAL STYLE OF FLORENT SCHMITT BASED ON AN EXAMINATION OF ’ PSAUME XLVII AND LA TRAGEDIE DE SALOME By Jerry Edwin Rife Florent Schmitt began his professional career as a composer in Paris in 1906. The artistic environment in Paris during the early years of this century attracted nearly every major composer of that era as well as many lesser-known artists and students. With the end of the nineteenth century came the dissolution of many traditional concepts. The atmosphere was ripe for creative experi- mentation that would lead to the formation of principles basic to twentieth-century music. Through a gradual rise in the fashionable Parisian avant—garde circles, Schmitt became one of the most highly regarded French composers before World War I, and he continued to enjoy this position until his death in 1958. Between 1904 and the beginning of World War I, Schmitt wrote his first large—scale, successful compositions. His importance as a composer was demonstrated by the major works of these years, and, as a result, his position in the musical community of Paris was firmly established. It was during this time that Schmitt developed his distinctive style. This style is an individual synthesis of the diverse musics to which he was exposed (including French, German, and Russian Romantic music and music of central Europe, northern Africa, and the Near East) and a personal aesthetic which centered on an experimental approach to harmony and a primary interest in rhythm as an expressive device. This dissertation provides an examination of the essential qualities of Schmitt's compositional style during these formative years. Of the several works dating from this time, two major ones stand out: Psaume XLVII, for soprano solo, choir, organ, and orchestra; and La Tragédie de Salomé, a ballet in two acts. These compositions not only brought him renown as a French composer of the first rank, but enabled him to establish his mature style. Through a thorough analysis of the compositional traits of these major works and close examination of the lesser-known pieces from this period, Schmitt's idiomatic style is clarified. A comparison of his style to that of his contemporaries, predecessors, and successors is presented in the summary. ‘- .i‘l l‘l PREFACE Florent Schmitt began his professional career as a composer in Paris in 1906. The artistic environment in Paris during the early years of this century attracted nearly every major composer of that era as well as many lesser-known artists and students. With the end of the nineteenth century came the dissolution of many traditional concepts. The atmosphere was ripe for creative experimentation that would lead to the formation of principles basic to twentieth-century music. Florent Schmitt, through a gradual rise in the fashionable Parisian avant-garde circles, became one of the most highly regarded French composers before World War I, and he continued to enjoy this esteemed position in France until his death in 1958. Born in 1870, he attended the Music Conservatoire at Nancy and the Paris Conservatoire. After winning the Prix de Rome in 1900, Schmitt spent the next six years in Rome and in travels throughout Europe, the Near East, and Northern Africa. In 1906, he settled permanently in Paris. As a committee member of the Société Musicale Independante, an avant-garde group formed in 1909 and headed by Fauré, ii -.__—.»__—«-—- _- Schmitt was in a position to be at the forefront of musical happenings in Paris. He was also a member of the influential "Apaches," a band of young critics, artists, and musicians that included Maurice Ravel, Maurice Delage, Ricardo Vifies, Tristan Klingsor, Michel Calvocoressi, and Igor Stravinsky. This period of his life, from 1906 until the beginning of World War I, was the time of his first big compositional successes. The major works of these years established his position in the musical community of Paris. It was during this time that Schmitt developed his distinctive style. Since the early years of this century, French critics have regarded Schmitt as an important composer of the twentieth century. However, non-French critics and historians have been less enthusiastic about his work, and very few studies of his music have been written. P. 0. Ferroud, a composer and pupil of Schmitt who died at the age of 36, wrote an important article1 and a short monograph entitled Autour de Florent Schmitt.2 Yves Hucher's book, 1"Florent Schmitt," La Revue Musicale, XXXIX (April, 1924), pp. 1-30. 2Paris: Durand, 1927. iii m». ., \‘vt '- I . ~ 0. ‘ .1 ’1’ .-p I.- v Florent Schmitt l'homme et l'artiste,3 his catalogue of works, L'Oeuvre de Florent Schmitt,4 and a short book by 5 Madeleine Marceron, Florent Schmitt, are the only major writings on Schmitt. Furthermore, most of the articles and books which mention Schmitt and his works contain inaccuracies and often conflicting or unfounded statements. The present dissertation is the first extended study of Schmitt in English and the only detailed examination of the style traits of any of his works. The immediate direction of my research is to provide an examination of the essential qualities of Schmitt's compositional style during these formative years. The two central works dating from this period which brought him the most renown are Psaume XLVII (1904—1906), for soprano solo, choir, organ, and orchestra, and La Tragédie de Salomé (1907), a ballet in two acts, which was reorchestrated in 1910 as a symphonic poem. These works incorporate many novel characteristics which were absorbed into the style of Schmitt's later works. His use of primi- tivistic percussive traits, octatonic scalar structures, and asymmetrical rhythmic designs at a time which predates 3Paris: Plon, "Le Bon Plaisir," 1953. 4Paris: Durand, 1960. 5Paris: Ventadour, 1959. iv fl . ' n g 1.." ' '“: I .u - 'i A .3: .- a . '10- . \ \ .- “cab If... c - a J“... ' D II \‘V'! 4 k l‘.’ van...’ . " Out. I 1511‘. "H's" e . \"n " "Ah J I ‘ ...._ "*1 u . " ‘u I‘- ‘V ‘Q )1 p" . Stravinsky's L'Oiseau de feu is significant at this point in the composer's life, especially since, in general, his style remained essentially unchanged in his later works. While it is well—known that Le Sacre du printemps, widely hailed as a seminal work of the twentieth century, is musically descended from the Russian tradition, the extent of French influence, especially that of Schmitt and La Tragédie de Salomé, on Le Sacre du printemps and other of Stravinsky's early ballets, is yet to be seriously investigated. While the stylistic characteristics of Stravinsky's Russian period are well-documented, the style of Schmitt's work has not received the recent, intense study that it deserves. An examination of Schmitt's style of the pre-World War I years is the first step in clarifying the question of influence between Schmitt and Stravinsky. While a brief comparison of their music is included in the summary, a detailed investigation of the musical similarities of these two composers will be reserved for future study. Any comprehensive survey of the total works of Schmitt naturally would be beyond the scope of this paper and would have to be the subject of an extended, special study. The direct concern of this dissertation is -1 .u' J. . .11... LL h'm I. 0'.“- hhhod ’1 = D I 0 I. {I 0... “ I‘. I h. It ., u _: ~.. g ‘i‘. . l. f":- 0-. b ‘ I l Schmitt's early style characteristics as seen in Psaume XLVII and La Tragédie de Salomé.6 Apart from a cursory account of Schmitt's life and some of his travels, the scope of this study is limited to a detailed analysis of these two works and conclusions concerning his style characteristics based on this examination. A brief comparison of his style with those of his predecessors, contemporaries, and successors will clarify his individual standing in early twentieth- century music. The vast amount of neglected or forgotten works, their consistencies and inconsistencies with the style of Schmitt's early period as exemplified in these two works, a definitive biographical account of his travels and life, and his role as a critic are subjects which must be left for future study. It is hoped that the conclusions drawn from this analysis will foster a renewed interest in the music under study here and in other works from his large oeuvre. The analysis is freely based on Jan LaRue's Guidelines for Style Analysis.7 "Style" is defined here as the principal choices of procedures and musical elements that the composer makes in constructing his composition. 6I have used the 1909 score of Psaume XLVII published by A. Z. Mathot. For the analysis of La Tragédie de Salomé, I have used the score published in Paris by Durand In 1912. 7New York, 1970. vi 7’ K. Each work will be analyzed from the standpoint of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, orchestration, and textual considerations. I have been privileged to work with several scholars, and it is a pleasure to thank them for their assistance in this project. I am deeply indebted to Professor Eldon van Liere for his enlightening discussions and for suggesting the basic idea of research on this composer. The historians who have graciously extended their help and support at various stages in the work are Glen Watkins, Francois Lesure, Robert Craft, Charles Joseph, Margaret Cobb, Wayne Shirley, Robert Orledge, and especially Jann Pasler. As members of my doctoral committee, professors Bruce Campbell and Albert Le Blanc were very generous with their time and help. I am grateful for the technical assistance and valuable moral support of Dale Bonge. My special thanks goes to Rosalie Schellhous for her unending suggestions and guidance at nearly every stage of the project. vii Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter TABLE OF CONTENTS I, Biography........ ..... . ..... .. ............. 1 II, An Analysis of Psaume 47 ......... ......... 38 Text and Music Relationship ................... 41 Melody........................................ 94 Harmony............................. .......... 147 III, An Analysis of La Tragédie de Salomé.....180 Mel-Ody. O O O O I O O O O O C ..... O O O O ...... O I I O O O O I O O I O O 196 Harmony. 0 O O O O O O O O O I I O O O C O O O O O O O O O O O O O ..... O O O O 245 IV, smaryOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0.0.0.000000000000000281 AppendiXOOOOOOOOO00.0.00...0.0.00.00.00.00...0.00.00.0338 Bibliography. 0 o o o o o o o) 000000000000000000000 o o o 000000000 339 CHAPTER I BIOGRAPHY Florent Schmitt was born on September 23, 1870, in the small village of Blamont in the arrondissement of Lunéville in Menthe—et—Moselle. The German surname Schmitt is extremely common in this part of France. The eastern border of France had been arbitrarily drawn along the Rhine only five days before Schmitt's birth. Little is known of his childhood except that his parents encouraged Florent in music and exposed him to the works of the great Classic and Romantic composers.1 His parents were amateur musicians, and they made certain that their son received musical training. Schmitt studied organ with his father from an early age. The boy showed a resistance to the instrument that may have nurtured a bias against organists. Schmitt's favorite subjects in school were Latin, geography, and algebra, and during his adolescence, music occupied only part of his leisure time.2 He received his first formal musical training in 1887, when he decided to devote himself to music and was 1Paul Charles René Landormy, La Musiqye Francaise aprés Debussy (Paris: Gallimard, 1943), p._91. 2Rene Dumesnil, La Musiqge contemporaine en France Vol. 1 (Paris: Librairie Armand Colin, 1930), p. 135. 2 admitted to the Nancy Conservatory. There he studied with Gustave Sandré, the Director of the Conservatory, who taught the harmony classes, and with Henri Hess, a local teacher of harmony and piano who was Organist at Nancy Cathedral. During his two years at Nancy, he was introduced to the music of Chopin and Franck. He showed great enthusiasm for Franck's Violin and Piano Sonata in A major, M. 8 (1886), and he maintained a lifelong admiration for the works of ChOpin.3 Schmitt viewed his study at Nancy as a preparation for the entrance examination required by the Paris Conservatoire. In October, 1889, Schmitt was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire. His first harmony and composition teacher there was Theodore Dubois (1837-1924), who later became Director of the Conservatoire. Dubois was trained in the French Classical style of Lesueur and Cherubini. He advocated conservative trends at a time when young composers were searching for new musical avenues.4 Schmitt excelled in his work in Dubois' class and received a second honorable mention in his examination at the end of his first year.5 The following fall he entered the harmony class of Professor 3Landormy, La musigue, p. 91. 4Jean Mongrédien, "Dubois," The New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5(1980): p. 664-65. 5Jean Poueigh (Octave Séré), Musiciens francais d'aujourd'hui (Paris: Mercure de France, 1911), p. 397. 3 Albert Lavignac (1846—1916), who was a respected composer and musicologist. Schmitt again received the second prize for his work. Schmitt was fortunate to be able to study counterpoint and fugue with the highly regarded teacher André Gédalge (1856-1926), who also taught Ravel, Honegger, Ibert, and Milhaud. Ravel wrote of his teacher, "You may not realize how much Gédalge meant to me...His teaching was of unusual clarity: with him one understood immediately (that 'technique' is not simply a scholastic abstraction."6 Gédalge used his own text, Traité de la fugue,7 for the class and taught the importance of a clear melodic line in composition, using the works of Bach and Mozart as examples.8 He advocated the compositional styles of Saint-Saéns and Lalo and encouraged the use of contrapuntal techniques in noncontrapuntal works. His profound influence on the young composer is clearly evident in Schmitt's pre—World War I works. 6Maurice Ravel, "Hommages a André Gédalge," La Revue Musicale, (March 1, 1926), p. 225. "Vous ne savez peut-étre pas tout ce qu'a été Gédalge our moi...Son enseignement était d'une clarté singuliere: avec lui, on comprenait tout de suite que le métier est autre chose qu'une abstraction scholastique. 7Paris: Enoch et cie., 1901. 8Arbie Orenstein, Ravel, Man and Musician (New York: Columbia University Press,—I975), p. 20. 4 In his third year at the Conservatoire, Schmitt passed into the class of Massenet where he studied fugue, counterpoint, and composition. Massenet's compositions are representative of the nineteenth-century French operatic tradition. Unlike Dubois, who dictated stylistic uniformity, Massenet encouraged his students to develop their individual styles rather than emulate his own. Schmitt studied with Massenet intermittently from the fall of 1891 until 1896, when Massenet left the Conservatoire. The prescribed military service interrupted Schmitt's studies with Massenet. He was stationed first at the garrison in Bar-le-Duc, a small town east of Nancy, later at Lac Saint—Fargeau, southeast of Paris, and then at Saint-Cloud, a Paris suburb. Schmitt passed his service in military bands, and in an effort to make this experience more interesting, he taught himself to play the flute. While stationed at Saint-Cloud, he was able to re-enter the Massenet composition class at the Conservatoire. Schmitt's first opus numbers date from this time. He left a large envelope of student compositions marked "Manuscripts previous to 1895--never to be published." The first public performance of a work by Schmitt was given 9René Dumesnil and J. Combarieu, Histoire de la musi ue, Tome IV: L'aube du XXe siécle (Paris: ’Libraire Armand Colin, 1958), p. 374. 5 on March 17, 1894, when his songs "Lied," Opus 4, No. 1, and "O triste, triste était mon fime," Opus 55, No. 2, were performed on a Société Nationale de Musique concert.10 In October, 1896, Fauré replaced Massenet as professor of composition, counterpoint, and fugue. Under his guidance, many important, young composers received the expert training that they needed. "The Fauré class," writes Roland—Manuel, "was to music as the salon of Mallarmé was to the poets. [It included] the better musicians of the time and [was] a great seminar in elegance and taste."11 It was in this class that Schmitt met Ravel, Charles Koechlin, George Enesco, Alfredo Casella, Nadia Boulanger, Louis Aubert, Roger Ducasse, André Caplet, and Emile Vuillermoz. The course emphasized careful study of earlier compositions, including Beethoven's sonatas, Bach's cantatas and passions, Tristan und Isolde, Anton, Prince:;gg£, and the works of Chabrier, Meyerbeer, and Richard Strauss. Fauré, like Massenet, always encouraged his students to develop their own styles rather than emulate an existing style. It was with great admiration for Fauré that Schmitt wrote, 10Yves Hucher, L'oeuvre de Florent Schmitt, tr. Raymond Berthier (Paris: Durand, 1960), p. XXI. 11Jean-Michel Nectoux, Fauré (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1972), p. 82. "La classe de Fauré fut aux musiciens ce que le salon de Mallarmé avait été aux poétes...les meilleurs musiciens de l'époque...grand séminaire de l'élégance et du gofit." 6 "Here am I, such as I am; such as I think; such as I am able to create. I would not have been able to write these lines without this Master to whom I render my testimony, for he has made me better and more sincere, and...has permitted me to be myself and not his useless reflection."12 Fauré's composition class was taught in an unorthodox manner. As a teacher, he did not assume the haughty, domineering attitude that was so prevalent at the Conservatoire. He was always pleasant toward his students, yet he captivated them with an artistic presence that left them both duly respectful and immensely stimulated.13 Class often started late and ended early, and Fauré did little preparation. Seated at the piano with the students gathered around him, he quickly corrected the counterpoint exercises and then made comments about original pieces each pupil presented. His pedagogical aim was to allow the individual qualities of the young composers under his care 12Robert Bernard, "A Propos de In Memoriam de Florent Schmitt," La Revue Musicale, 17(January 1936): p. 123. "Me voici tel que je suis, tel que je pense, tel que je puis créer. Aurais-je pu écrire ces lignes sans ces Maitre au quel je rends mon témoignage, le meilleur, le plus sincere qui soit c'est—a-dire en proclamant ce qu'il m'a permis d'étre: moi-meme et non pas son inutile reflet." 13Robert Orledge, Gabriel Fauré (London: Eulenburg Books, 1979), p. 38. 7 to develop freely through careful guidance in an environment of contagious inspiration.14 He expressed his artistic aim in a letter to Mme. de Chaumont—Quitry concerning Schmitt, who had just failed to win the Prix de Rome in 1898. If I were he, I would be less preoccupied with finding a direction or path! Artistic conscience alone should guide him...the desire to express his sentiments faithfully and for perfection of form, without concern for immediate or eventual external success. To express that which is within you with sincerity, in the clearest and most perfect manner would seem to me always the ultimate goal of art.15 In the late 1890's, Fauré began to take his com- position class to the home of Madame René de Saint-Marceaux, where informal performances of the students' vocal works 16 These soirées included famous writers and were given. artists who brought their work and interacted with the musicians. It was not unusual for them to meet such artists as André Beaunier, Isadora Duncan, André Messager, Pierre de Bréville, Debussy, and Vincent d'Indy at these meetings.17 14Emile Vuillermoz, Gabriel Fauré, tr. Kenneth Schapin (Philadelphia: Chilton Book Co., 1969), p. 27. 15Orledge, Gabriel Fauré, p. 34. 16Orenstein, Ravel, p. 21. 17Ib1d., p. 21. 8 Schmitt was introduced to Debussy in 1891, and became close friends with Satie slightly later.18 The personal contacts he made at social soirées and elsewhere may not only have provided a musical influence but may have helped to elevate his position within the artistic community of Paris to the high level it reached before World War I. Several interesting works of Schmitt date from these years (1899-1900). "Ballade de la neige," Opus 6, for piano, shows the first evidence of the influence of 19 Fauré's music. Sept pieces for piano, four hands, and the first book of Musiques intimes clearly illustrate the young composer's search for a personal musical style. They are experimental efforts, each one imitating the style of another composer such as Schumann or Brahms. It was not until after 1900 that Schmitt developed his own mature, idiomatic style. In 1896, Schmitt entered the Prix de Rome competition. This competition comprised two stages. The preliminary round consisted of writing a four—part fugue on a given subject and setting a text for mixed chorus and orchestra. Both compositions were to be completed in one week. The pieces were numbered and remained anonymous until 18F. 0. Ferroud, Autour de Florent Schmitt (Paris: Durand, 1927), p. 10. 19Alfred Cortot, La Musique Francaise de piano (Paris: Editions Rieder, 1932), p. 170. 9 the final vote was taken. The final round required complete seclusion of the finalists in their studios at the Compiégne Palace where within one month they were to set an extended cantata text for several solo voices and orchestra. The judging and performance of the completed cantatas occurred 20 between early May and the end of June each year. The winner of the Prix de Rome was supplied with a modest stipend for four years and was expected to spend two years at the Villa de Medici in Rome and one year each in Germany or Austria, and Rome or Paris. During this time, the composer was to complete several pieces of chamber, orchestral, and choral music. At least four years of untroubled artistic growth was the direct result of winning 21 the Prix de Rome. It was not until 1900 that Schmitt won the first prize with his cantata Sémiramis. In 1925 he published his thoughts on the Prix de Rome: Among countless misfortunes, in the good old days, I had to compete five times for the Prix de Rome in order to win it only once. And, if in the end I was not left out in the cold, it was thanks to Gabriel Fauré, my much lamented teacher, who managed to gather enough votes among the sculptors and painters to counterbalance the animosity of the musicians, who, with the exception of Massenet, Beyer, and Saint-Saéns, turned thumbs down on me. So it was not really a musical prize. But I have no shame at that. The other voting musicians 20Orenstein, Ravel, p. 34. 21Ib1d., p. 33. 10 were Paladilhe, Dubois, and Lenepveu. The important thing was the thirty thousand gold francs, the trip, and the eyecatching . 2 accommodations of the city of Mussolini. Schmitt kept a diary of his journeys and experiences during these Prix de Rome years. While the diary discloses some of the 30-year-old composer's thoughts and work habits, it is largely a fascinating account of his travels throughout Europe, Northern Africa, and the Near East. In spite of his commitments to the Paris Conservatoire and to the Villa de Medici, he only spent a few months at the Villa. The trip from Paris to Rome will serve as an example of Schmitt's haphazard travel itinerary. Although he was scheduled to leave on December 1, 1900, with Paul Bigot, Landowsky, and Quidor, the Prix holders in architecture, sculpture, and copper engraving, he was delayed by the performance of Sémiramis and could not depart until December 9. While his original travel companions proceeded directly 22Florent Schmitt, "Autour de Rome," Cinquante ans de musique francaise de 1874 a 1925, II (Paris: Librairie de France, 1925), p. 401. "Entre mille infortunes,-jadis, j'eus celle de concourir cinq fois au prix de Rome pour ne l'obtenir qu'une seule. Et si finalement je ne restai pas sur le carreau, ce fut bien grace a Gabriel Fauré, mon trés regretté maitre qui, quoique non encore de l'Institut, sut me conquérir parmi les sculpteurs et les peintres suffisamment de voix pour contrebalancer l'animosité des musiciens. Car ceux—ci, sauf Massenet, Reyer et Saint—Saéns, m'avaient, comme on dit, dans le nez. Ce ne fut donc pas, en réalité, un prix de musique. Mais je n'en ressentis aucune honte: les autres musiciens étaient Paladilhe, Dubois et Lenepveu. L'important était les trente mille francs or, plus le voyage et le logement ophtalmiques a la cité de Mussolini." 11 to Rome, Schmitt stopped at Vézelay, Orange, and Arles and then took a detour through Strasbourg, Lucerne, Clermont, Fonlerabic, and Croisic. He stayed in Marseilles for two days then traveled to Nice, Monte Carlo, San Remo, and to Florence for an eight—day visit. After yet another detour through several northern Italian cities, he arrived at the Villa in Rome on midnight, December 30, and had to climb over the garden fence to gain entrance.2 Schmitt found life at the Villa artificial and counter—productive. The work schedule was difficult to endure. He composed in the morning. The afternoon was spent "erasing the morning's work and writing new passages to be erased later."24 In spite of his dissatisfaction, he did finish a few pieces. Trois valses nocturnes, Opus 31, dates from this time. It has been hailed by Alfred Cortot as a piano piece which establishes a new manner of piano composition in the works of Schmitt.25 "Lucioles," for piano, and Demande, Opus 20, for voice and orchestra, were written in 1901. "Lucioles" was later grouped with "Le chant de l'Anio" to become Opus 23, entitled Nuits romaines. P. 0. Ferroud, 231b1d., p. 403. 24Ibid., p. 405. "a la restitution de mes pages ommées le matin et a la preparation de nouvelles couches a gommer 1e lendemain." 25Cortot, La Musique Francaise de piano, p. 181. 12 Schmitt's first biographer, linked "Lucioles" to the style of Chabrier and Chopin, especially Chapin's "Etude in F minor."26 A large part of Schmitt's first year "in Rome" was spent traveling. In April he explored northern Italy, stopping sometimes for long stays in several major cities. In October he arrived in Paris, and he gave little thought to his return to Rome. This first of many extended trips away from Rome aroused the anger of the Medici officials, especially Eugene Guillaume, the director of the Villa. Wherever the composer would stay for several days he would receive telegrams and letters from Guillaume that had been forwarded to him from all of the previous cities he had visited. Guillaume urged Schmitt to return to Rome under the rules of the Villa de Medici. Schmitt was able to balance his time spent in Rome and his time traveling so that he just barely complied with the rules.27 The Rome years were very productive for Schmitt. Not only did he compose new works, but he reworked and orchestrated many of his earlier compositions. He was also able to compose during his lengthy travels, and many of his works directly reflect the visual images of his travels. In 1902 he reorchestrated "Musique sur l'eau," Opus 33, and 26P. O. Ferroud, "Florent Schmitt," La Revue Musicale, XXXIX/6 (April, 1924), p. 18. 27Schmitt, "Autour de Rome," p. 407. 11311111198," 0 m... : i m Q? .5398 LK-Q ‘ {111 11115 I 1.1:. 11111 1.11111 11 '1 i- «‘11—- . .9. ' ..1.1... s» . ‘I»~~. . .m.5 5 .‘ 1 1 ‘¢ 1":' 9". h... 13 "Les barques," Opus 8, while he was trying to begin the composition of a chamber work according to the requirements of the Paris Conservatory. In the spring of 1902, after two short trips to Terracina, a small coastal village south of Rome, and to Pompeii, he began work on the first movement of his monumental three-movement Piano Quintet, Opus 51. Schmitt worked all morning, all afternoon, and long into the night to compose the movement. After two months of continuous reworking and revising, the rough draft of the first movement was complete. It was 63 pages long, which Schmitt decided was excessive, and before the work was completed in 1908, it was to undergo further drastic revisions. Schmitt spent the summer and fall of 1902 traveling. He was in Bayreuth during the month of August. As a younger man, Schmitt had made the obligatory pilgrimage to Bayreuth to hear Wagner's works, but in 1902 when he heard Parsifal, his admiration was worn out.28 Like many of his colleagues, he was no longer infatuated with Wagner's music. His travels took him to Zurich and on to Paris where he stayed six weeks. A large percentage of the time he was away from Rome was spent in Paris, and he surely returned to hear the early performances of Pelléas et Mélisande in the spring and fall of 1902. Unfortunately, the diary makes 28Schmitt, "Autour de Rome," p. 409. ‘ittle mention A)”: "195 thl thdL\ :1 1110111115 1: the 101;: 9":‘1 "I ‘ :‘ohocm 1'.‘ .1 b \fi‘s‘d-a‘L SI I ‘ ~V;“5E ‘ (skuli ‘1‘ Ken} u‘ an: '33". 14 little mention of his activities in Paris. Rather it chronicles the journeys to exotic or out-of-the-way places and expounds in great detail on the nonmusical adventures of the composer and his friends. The letters from Eugene Guillaume were accumulating, and it became imperative that Schmitt set off for Rome again. His route took him through France, Switzerland, Spain, Morocco, Tunisia, and finally to Rome in the spring of 1903. In order to comply with the Prix de Rome rules, it was obligatory for the Prix de Rome holder to submit his works to the Institute of France in Paris regularly. Schmitt had no newly composed works to send, so he rather rapidly patched up a symphonic poem entitled Combat des Raksasas et déliverance de Sita, which he had composed in 29 1898, and sent it off to Paris. In August, 1903, Schmitt traveled up the Rhine river to Coblence, Mannheim, and Heidelberg. However, he spent September firmly grounded in Rome. The Villa was deserted except for André Caplet, the 1901 Prix de Rome holder, and Schmitt. They spent the days playing four-hand piano arrangements of Borodin and Glazounov symphonies as well as works by Bruckner, Mahler, Balakirev, Rimsky—Korsakov, Debussy's Nocturnes, and the tone poems of Richard Strauss--"all the works from this time."30 29Hucher, L'oeuvre de Florent Schmitt, p. 20. 3oSchmitt, "Autour de Rome," p. 414. 15 In the fall, Schmitt and a few friends left Rome for Greece, arriving in Athens on October 19. From there they traveled to the Near East: from Constantinople through the Dardanelles to Galata, Turkey. Schmitt then traveled through Prague to Dresden, where he remained a month working on the second movement of the Quintet.31 Later, in Leipzig, he heard concerts of Bruckner's symphonies and the concertos of Tchaikovsky. Schmitt also stayed in Berlin for six months, during which he occupied himself with everything except music.32 On yet another trip through Germany, Schmitt visited Hamburg and Lfibeck. He then traveled to Denmark and Sweden where, on June 22, 1904, he was able to write postcards by the midnight sun. He returned to Rome via Berlin and the Carpathes and sent his last 22321 from Rome: Le palais hanté, Opus 49, a symphonic etude, and Psaume XLVII, Opus 38.33 Schmitt probably devoted more time to composition during his "Rome" years than is indicated by his diary. Several compositions reflect his journeys both directly and indirectly. Reflets d'Allemagne, Opus 28, for example, includes eight waltzes for piano, four hands, which evoke 311b1d., p. 420. 321bid. 33Originally entitled Psaume XLVI, according to the Imalm numbering in the Vulgate, the composer adopted the new numbering system and published the orchestral score as Psaume XLVII. fl 111111111111 : goth ‘ a“: :5 f 13.: 11111)). 117.1111 ‘9‘X‘II‘V '53:: ‘ .e # Fag-'1- e. :I 1 iln'V: . | £53.13 16 eight German and Austrian cities that he had visited. The fifth, entitled "Vienna," recalls the Magyar, Hungarian music which is prevalent in that area. "Procession dans la montagne" (the first movement of Musiques de plein air pour orchestre, Opus 44) reflects the visual images of the composer's travels to the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino.34 However, these works are not programmatic in the sense that they express a specific plot. Rather, the music descriptively portrays the general impressions of the composer. Other works from this time demonstrate his experimentation with orientalism. After the turn of the century, the Parisian artistic community acquired a fascination for oriental art. While Schmitt may have been influenced by this trend, he was, nevertheless, able to draw inspiration directly from his travels in the Near East. The parade of the great Turkish Sultan, Sélamlik, occurred during Schmitt's stay in Constantinople. The flavor of this procession has found its way into more than one of Schmitt's compositions. The best example is Opus 48, Sélamlik, a Turkish interlude for band written before 1906. Schmitt also has admitted to trying to portray this roaring 35 sultan in the beginning of his Psaume XLVII. The extent 34Arthur Hoérée, "Florent Schmitt," The New Groves IHctionary of Music and Musicians, 16(1980): p. 677. 35Schmitt, "Autour de Rome," p. 419. 13.111 comes? 11111133911 1 11 $1115.: “13.3.2111 111‘; 31.1111 1 1.131., 5‘. 5‘ g .11. m: | . angb. f' 'uu.“ ' '- a. 1‘) 17 of the compositional use of orientalism in his works will be addressed more fully below; it is sufficient here to note that Schmitt's travels during the "Rome" years were not without influence in his output. The composer must have felt that travel was of more than passing importance to his craft, since he allotted a major part of his life to it for the promotion of his works, Compositional inspiration, or vacations. Although Le palais hanté, Opus 49, after Edgar Allen Poe, was premiered in Paris on January 8, 1905, the majority of the Rome envois, including Psaume XLVII, Opus 38, and Musiques de plein air, Opus 44, were premiered, as was the custom, at a gala concert celebrating the return to Paris of the Prix de Rome winner. The concert, held on December 27, 1906, was a great success, and it served to mark the beginning of a successful musical career for Florent Schmitt. His status in French society as a prominent composer was strengthened and secured from this date. The premiere of his first masterpiece, Psaume XLVII, brought him renown 36 In 1958 and pointed the direction his music would take. Antoine Goléa, the noted French musicologist, wrote that 36Hoérée, "Florent Schmitt," p. 677. 18 "no doubt the coming of Psaume XLVII, in 1906, was the most important event in French music since Pelléas, in spite of Ariane et Barbe-Bleue (1907) and Daphnis et Chloé (1912)."37 Ravel was also enthusiastic over Psaume XLVII. He predicted a successful reception from the critics and lost no time in requesting the score and a transcription.38 Schmitt spent a good portion of the first half of 1907 at Artiguémy, in southern France at the foot of the Pyrenees, where he had a large home. It was there that many of his works were sketched. Schmitt admitted that he felt much more at ease at this quiet mountain retreat than at his townhouse in the noisy Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud.39 Schmitt composed his most famous work, Tragédie de Salomé, Opus 50, at Artiguémy in 1907. It was premiered on November 9, 1907, at the Théatre des Arts in Paris under the musical direction of Désiré-Emilé Inghelbrecht. The score was for a chamber orchestra of 20 instruments, but he 37Hucher, L'oeuvre de Florent Schmitt, p. XV. "Il est évident que l'apparition, en'1906, du Psaume XLVII a été l'événement le plus important de la musique francaise depuis Pelléas, malgré Ariane et Barbe-Bleue (1907) et Daphnis et Chloe (1912)?" 38Réné Chalupt, Ravel au miroir de ses lettres (Paris: Robert Laffont,’l956), p. 59. 39Madeleine Marceron, Florent Schmitt (Paris: Ventadour, 1959), p. 32. 19 astonished his audience with a concentrated richness that 40 The had the sound of a full orchestra at all times. inventive rhythms, colorful use of dissonance, and violent expression helped elevate Schmitt to his position in the 1920's as one of the most important avant-garde composers in Paris. In 1910 Schmitt rescored the piece for full orchestra, and it is this version which solidified his position as a composer of major importance in Paris. Schmitt composed and successfully premiered three of his most important and innovative works between 1906 and 1914. Psaume XLVII and La Tragédie de Salomé in 1906 and 1907, respectively, were followed one year later by the Piano Quintet, Opus 51. This work was begun in Rome in 1902 and reworked in Dresden, but not completed until 1908, after extensive revision. The work is dedicated to Fauré and it exhibits a musical affinity to the style of Fauré's 41 Like many of Schmitt's chamber works, the late period. Piano Quintet gives an impression of a condensed orchestral work. In spite of its inordinate 1ength——a performance of over one hour without a break--it was hailed as one of the 40Dumesnil, La Musique Contemporaine, Vol. 2, p. 159. 41Norbert Dufourcq, La Musique Frangaise (Paris: librairie Larousse, 1949), p. 355. 20 most important French contemporary chamber works. In 1909 Louis Laloy wrote: This Quintet is a considerable work not by dimensions alone, but by the fullness of its conception, the incessant variety of the effects, and the richness of orchestral sonority...Florent Schmitt is a thinker interested in order and sequence. The three movements are cyclically united and meticulously composed. In a review of the March 27, 1909 premiere, M. D. Calvocoressi declared the work a masterpiece, largely 43 due to Schmitt's simple and robust classic language. The Piano Quintet, along with Psaume XLVII and La Tragédie de Salomé, helped establish Schmitt as a composer of expressive power and technical substance, and this compositional style, with which he became famous, was to remain essentially unchanged in his later works. With these compositional successes Schmitt gradually began to achieve a position of power and prestige. He made several important friendships during these years. He was acquainted with Debussy and Satie from 1891, and he 42Louis Laloy, "Le Quintet de Florent Schmitt," La Nouvelle Revue Frangaise, (August, 1909), p. 79. "Ce Quintette est une oeuvre considérable, non par ses dimensions seu es, mais par l'ampleur de la conception, l'incessante variété des effets, et la richesse d'une sonorité orchestrale ...Florent Schmitt un penseur, plus occupé de l'ordre et de la suite." 43Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi, "Le Quintette de M.Schmitt," Comoedia Illustré (April 15, 1909), n.p. f . 21 maintained a very close bond of friendship with Ravel, who had entered the Paris Conservatory in 1889, the same year as Schmitt. Of the letters from Ravel to Schmitt, one dated .March 14, 1909, expressed Ravel's biting criticism of a «:oncert of the Société Nationale. In this letter, to Cypa Godebski, Ravel also expressed his assessment of one of Schmitt's compositions included in the concert and of his work in general. Oh, those filthy musicians! They don't know how to orchestrate. They fill up your ears with Turkish music. Fugal interludes replace handiwork. Themes out of Pelléas amplify their ideas. And what noise all this makes! Tam-tam, Basque drums, snare drum, glockenspiel and cymbals, anything that occurs to them. One of them breaks the record by adding xylophone and Chinese woodblocks. With just a little music added it might be lovely. .In all this, Schmitt sounds like an intruder: generous inspiration and melody line, a sumptuous, delicate orchestra, everything that the others lack. Finally, one can tell the difference in quality, in spite of deploraZke performances and a singer without a voice. ‘ 44Chalupt, Ravel, p. 80. "Ah! les sales musiciens! (Pest pas fichu d'orcEestrer et ca vous bouche les trous avec de la musique turque. Des divertissements de fugue remplacent le métier, des themes de Pelléas suppléent a 1d1nspiration. Et tout cela fait un Bruit! Du tam-tam, <>té comme le plus sale cochon mon Petroushka. On a jeclare qu'un aussi laide et sale musique ou ne pouvait ()‘JEEr mieux que cela. Mon vieux! Vous ne nous figurer pas Gag; ennuis et les injures que l'orchestre m'a fait." -——.._____—__i 26 In a world so hostile to experimental, avant-garde composition, the sympathetic, receptive atmosphere of the Apaches must have been a welcome comfort.51 Stravinsky was also attracted to the Apaches by his interest in their music and in French music in general. In a letter to Schmitt, dated July 20, 1911, written while he was correcting the proofs of Petrushka and composing Zlezdoliki in Ustilug, Stravinsky wrote: "I am only playing It is good for me--you French music-~yours, Debussy, Ravel. 52 know-—a great consolation in our Russian desert." The probability of the influence of the Russian's compositions, especially Stravinsky's, on the French composers among the Apaches is as great as the possible influence of their music on Stravinsky. The 1910 reorchestrated version of La Tragédie de Salomé of Schmitt is dedicated to Stravinsky. More than one writer has linked this work with the style of the Russian ballets of StTl‘avinsky. Martin Cooper is one of several authors to exPose certain compositional traits in Schmitt's Salomé that were to be exploited by the young Stravinsky. Cooper sPecifically discusses Schmitt's combination of triads of \ 51Pasler, "Stravinsky and the Apaches," p. 406. SZIbid. 27 different keys to form complex and dissonant block chords that move in asymmetrical rhythms and produce passages of considerable energy and violence.53 He also is quick to add that Stravinsky's influence on Schmitt would become very strong in the years to come. In 1909, largely because of the growing tensions between Ravel and the leaders of the well-established @ciété Nationale and the Schola Cantorum, a new Société gygiicale Indépendante was formed. Ravel felt that he, SChmitt, and Roussel were only insignificant members of the §9§xiété Nationale and that they were being ignored by the Older committee members. In a letter to Charles Koechlin, dated January 16, 1909, Ravel explained his reasons: Societies, even national, do not escape from the laws of evolution. Only, one is free to withdraw from them. This is what I am doing by sending in my resignation as a member. I presented three works of my pupils, of which one was particularly interesting. Like the others, it too was refused. It didn't offer those solid qualities of incoherence and boredom, which the Schola Cantorum baptizes as structure and profundity...I am under- taking to form a new society, more independent, at least in the beginning. This idea has delighteg many people. Would you care to join us? 4 The aim of the new society, in direct criticism of the Schola Cantorum and the pro-Schola Cantorum bias of the \ 53Cooper, French Music, p. 149. 54Orenstein, Ravel, p. 61. 28 §gciété Nationale under Vincent d'Indy, was to make known through performance French or foreign modern music, published or unpublished, without exception of genre or style.55 The founding committee of the Société Musicale lgdépendante comprised Louis Aubert, André Caplet, Paul Dukas, Jean Huré, Charles Koechlin, A. Z. Mathot, Ravel, Schmitt, and Louis Vuillermin. Fauré, who had been director of the conservatoire since 1905, agreed to be president, and he took an active part in the important concerts, if not the meetings, of the new society. By 1910 Florent Schmitt enjoyed a position of Prestige among French composers. Critics freely grouped Scil'unitt with Debussy and Ravel although, with the exception 0f some marked impressionistic mannerisms, his style is quite dj~fferent from that of the more famous composers. He was p0Pular with the concert-going public of pre-World War I Paris also, primarily because of his use of large-scale °°Hstruction, his extremely expressive and powerful style, and his absolute mastery of the technique of orchestration. Adept at promoting his music in France and abroad, and always unfailingly honest and aggressive in expressing his Setltiiments, Schmitt was a highly respected and extremely Visible public figure. \ 55Orledge, Gabriel Fauré, p. 23. 29 His position in Parisian society undoubtedly helped him program his works. The second premiere, and probably the first acceptable performance, of Psaume XLVII was given on the first Société Musicale Indépendante concert on June 9, 1910.56 On January 8, 1911, an expanded version of La Tragédie de Salomé for full orchestra and soprano solo twas premiered on the Concerts Colonne. Another important recital of ballets, given on April 22, 1912, by the Russian ballerina Natasha Trouhanova, presented four works, each conducted by their respective composers: lei—tar by Vixncent d'Indy, La Tragédie de Salomé by Schmitt, La Peri 'by' Paul Dukas, and Adélaide, ou le langage des fleurs by Riimrel.57 The 1913 season of Diaghilev's Russian Ballet included three new ballets: w by Debussy, Le Sacre du 1Etfilntemps of Stravinsky, and Schmitt's expanded version of .Salomé. Although Salomé was danced by Tamara Karsavina, a 1Evilvorite member of the Russian troup, it was not a success. Time confusing scenario and uninteresting scenery, rather t1man.the music, were the main causes of the ballet's 58 fallure. At this point in his career, Schmitt's reputation \ S6Poueigh, Musiciens Frangais, p. 399. 57 p - 38D. Dumesnil and Combarieu, Histoire de la Musique, 588. L. Grigoriev, The Diaghilev Ballet 1909- 1927, 1L; - and ed. Vera Brown (London: Constable and Company, Ltd., 9553), p. 85. 30 as a first-rate composer was not in question, and the poor reception of his work, presented just two weeks after the Sacre scandal, did little to prevent La Tragédie de Salomé from becoming one of Schmitt's most celebrated pieces. The fertile, artistic atmosphere in Paris that had attracted so many artiSts and musicians in the early years of the century was shattered by the advent of World War I in August, 1914. Schmitt was called for military duty and stationed at Toul in Meurthe-et-Moselle as a second class soldier. The French cubist painter, Albert Gleizes (1881-1953) was mobilized with Schmitt and they became close friends. Gleizes began making small sketches of the composer in his blue and red uniform and each sketch was on a larger scale, the largest being a full two meters high.59 Toward the end of December, 1914, Schmitt was sent to Francheville where he became ill from overwork and was allowed five days to recuperate before returning to Toul. Much of his duty was behind the front lines and in a letter to Stravinsky, Ravel mentions that Florent was bored to death at Toul, and had finally obtained permission to go to the front.60 Several important works date from the four years that Schmitt was in the army. They are extremely difficult 5gMarceron, Florent Schmitt, p. 13. 60Orenstein, Ravel, p. 71. 31 to perform and reflect the troubled times in title and mood. Chant de guerre, Opus 63, for tenor solo, male choir, and orchestra, was composed during his recuperation time in Francheville in 1914. The orchestral piece entitled BEXEE’ Opus 65 reveals the influence of the canvases of the Italian futurists in its pervasive tangle of contrapuntal lines.61 Schmitt's most difficult piano score also dates from this period. It contains three movements grouped under the title Ombres, Opus 64. The composer later transcribed the piece for orchestra with piano solo. Following the war, Schmitt settled into a life that successfully combined public appearances and performances, seclusion at his home in the Pyrenees, and world travel. He became Director of the Academy of Music at Lyons in 1921, a post he held for three years. During this time he combined administrative duties with the teaching of harmony classes. He allocated the last 15 minutes of each class to the analysis of music from the keyboard; an extension of Fauré's technique. His extensive absence for travel has led Yves Hucher to remark that Schmitt managed the Academy from his 62 "directorial train" while en route to his next destination. Daniel Gregory Mason wrote in his memoirs that Schmitt lost 61Ferroud, "Florent Schmitt," pp. 20-21. 62Hucher, L'oeuvre de Florent Schmitt, p. LX. 32 the directorship because he "sometimes dissuaded parents from having their daughters of little talent come there to study."63 With the exception of Psaume XLVII, Le palais hanté, Salomé, and the lesser-known Danse des Devadasis from 1908, Schmitt wrote very few large-scale symphonic works prior to World War I. Most of his compositions were for piano, and 'many of the piano scores from this time were orchestrated later by the composer. If this period of Schmitt's output can be labeled his keyboard period, the years separating World War I and World War II may be called his symphonic years. Schmitt was quite prolific during the period preceding World War II. Some of his most important works date from these years, including the two large-scale symphonic suites, Antoine et Cléopétre, Opus 69, (1919—1920), and Salammba, six symphonic episodes after Gustave Flaubert, Opus 76, (1925). The original version of Le petit elfe Ferme-l'Oeil, Opus 58 for piano, four-hands, based on tales of Hans Christian Anderson, was scored for orchestra (Opus 73) in 1923. A new ballet, Oriane et le Prince d'Amour, Opus 83, was completed in 1934. Several other large 63Daniel Gregory Mason, MUsic in Merime (New York: Macmillan, 1938), pp. 257-258. 33 orchestral works were composed in this period, namely, In Memoriam, Opus 72 in memory of Fauré (1934), Fonctionnaire MCMXII, Opus 74 (1924), Danse d'Abisag, Opus 75 (1925), and Symphonie concertante, Opus 82 (1928-1931), for orchestra and piano. His most outstanding chamber music work from this time is Sonata libre en deux parties enchainées, Opus 68 (1918-1919), for violin and piano. At this time, the composer was also involved in concert tours and made extended trips to conventions. In 1929 he traveled to Hamburg for attendance at the Congress of Music. His Psaume XLVII was performed the following year in Hamburg. Schmitt attended a Mozart festival held in Salzburg in 1932, and in November, he traveled to the United States to perform the piano part to his Symphonie concertante with the Boston Symphony. The work was commissioned by Koussevitzky to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Boston Symphony. In his only visit to the united States, Schmitt scheduled an American tour to include as many concerts of his own music as possible. In addition to his performance in Boston, he presented recitals in New York; Washington, D. C.; Philadelphia; Chicago; Detroit; San Francisco; Seattle; and Los Angeles. He returned to France in February, 1922. His travels between 1933 and 1939 took him to Florence, 34 Zurich, Brussels, Moscow, Venice, Monte Carlo, Baden Baden, and Lisbon.64 He also attended a congress on Andalusian and Berber music in Morocco. Schmitt served as a music critic for the French newspaper, Le Temps, from 1929-1939. This placed him in the privileged position of being among the foremost French music critics of the time and gave him a forum in which to support new music and to encourage the sincere efforts of talented young composers. His writing style, while supported by what Norbert Dufourcq called a "knowledge without equal of the music of others,"65 was barbed with satire, puns, and witticisms. He became famous in French music circles for his bon mots. Schmitt was unfailingly honest about his feelings, whether in his column or in person, and although he was not necessarily the most popular music critic of this time, he was one of the most respected. He never hesitated to hurl himself into the storm of every cause célébre on the side of the attacked composer.66 Schmitt defended Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps six months before that work was premiered, and he was one of the few critics to 64Yves Hucher, Florent Schmitt, l'homme et l'artiste (Paris: Le Bon Plaisir, 1953), pp. 11-17. 65Dufourcq, La musique Frangaise, p. 306. 66David Ewen, European Composers Today (New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 1954), p. 154. 35 champion Schdnberg's Pierrot Lunaire and Five Pieces for Orchestra, Opus 16. His lasting influence on modern French music, if only from the standpoint of a critic, cannot be denied. Perhaps the power and prestige enjoyed by Schmitt in the 1930's can best be illustrated by Schmitt's election to the Institute of France. In Expositions and Developments, Stravinsky relates the story. I became a French citizen on 10 June, 1934. The next year Paul Dukas died and my French friends urged me to canvass for election to his seat in the Institute of France. I was opposed to the idea, but Paul Valéry encouraged me to try by telling me of the privileges enjoyed by academicians. I called dutifully on Maurice Denis, Charles-Marie Widor, and other elderly voters of the kind, but I lost dismally, in favour of Florent Schmitt-—which almost upset my belief that academies are formed by bad artists who wish to distinguish themselves by electing a few good ones; a case of the honourands honoring the honourers. Stravinsky could not resist adding an insult in the end. The close tie that existed between Stravinsky and Schmitt was severed sometime during World War I, possibly because of Stravinsky's friendship with Satie, who had become critical of Schmitt's growing political power.68 The fact 67Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Expositions and Developments (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1981), p. 71. 68Vera Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Stravinsky in Pictures and Documents (New York: Simon and SEhuster, 1978), p. 82. 36 that a lesser musical figure could defeat Stravinsky, who by that time was enjoying a worldwide reputation, attests to Schmitt's powerful political position within the artistic community of Paris. In 1938 Schmitt was elected president of the Société Nationale de Musique; the same group that caused the reactionary formation of the Société Musicale Indépendante nearly thirty years earlier. He was also a member of the Conseil Supérieur des Emissions Radiophoniques and was active in the advancement of phonographic recordings, radio broadcasts and music for sound film. He composed Fonctionnaire MCMXII, Opus 74, to accompany a twelve-minute film by Régis Gignoux in 1924, and Essais de locomotives, Opus 103, a documentary film score in 1943. While Schmitt specialized in keyboard works in his early career and wrote many of his powerful, symphonic works in the years before World War II, in his later years he focused on religious and vocal forms. His religious music is perhaps the most accomplished, and the most neglected, to have been composed by a twentieth-century French composer. His career was launched, and ended, with monumental religious works: Psaume XLVII (1904) and Messe en quatre parties (1958), which was finished three months before his death. With the exception of a short sacred song (0 Salutaris, Opus 1) from 1891, Psaume XLVII, and five motets written during World War I (Opus 60), all of Schmitt's 37 religious works were composed in the last eight years of his life. In addition to the Mass, the most notable of these scores is Trois liturgies joyeuses, Opus 116; Domine, Dominus Noster, Opus 119; Quinque cantus—-Ad benedictionem sanctissimi Sacramenti, Opus 121; and Psaume CXII et Deux Cantiques, Opus 135. Other important works from this period include a string trio, Opus 105, a string quartet, Opus 112, dating from 1947, and the second symphony, Opus 137, which was performed June 15, 1958, in Strausberg, East Germany. Schmitt continued to enjoy travel in his last years. He visited Rio de Janeiro in September, 1949, on an extended concert tour performing his own works in South America. His last trip, during the summer of 1957, was to Kiruna, one of the northernmost towns in Sweden. Schmitt was honored by his city and country in 1957, when he received the Grand Prix Musicale de la Ville de Paris and was offered, as was Fauré in 1910, the rank of Commander in the Order of the Legion d'Honneur. He died on August 17, 1958, at Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris at the age of 87. CHAPTER II AN ANALYSIS OF PSAUME 47 Schmitt's earliest widely recognized masterwork, Psalm 47, is structured in three connected movements. The outer movements are expansive and grandiose. The vocal writing is often forte or louder and accented with a high tessitura. The orchestral accompaniment and solo passages are generally vigorous and contain complex rhythmic patterns, asymmetrical phrases, hemiola, and full orchestration. Much of the final movement is an elaborated version of parts of the first. By contrast, the middle movement is quiet, restrained, and slow in tempo. Soprano solo comprises most of the vocal content of this movement. It is not used elsewhere in the work. The second movement contrasts with the outer movements also in the use of orientalisms which occur at its outset and throughout the movement. The whole-tone scale is prominent in the first melody of the movement, and it also includes augmented and diminished intervals, modal scales, and harmonies based on the whole- tone and pentatonic scales. These techniques represent the first strong evidence of orientalism in the work. Supported by polyrhythms, bitonality, and modal cadence structures, the passage separates the movement from the outer movements in a most dramatic way. 38 39 Key is also used to isolate the middle movement. The composition ends in the key of B minor. The first and last movements are constructed around keys on the dominant and lowered second scale degrees of B minor. The first harmony of the work combines notes from both F—sharp major and C major and acts as a refrain in conjunction with the phrase "Gloire au Seigneur" (Glory to God) which it accompanies. The final movement begins in C major and presents much of the recapitulated material in F—sharp major. The second movement is more distantly related to the key of B minor. It revolves around the keys of D-flat and G major. Structure within each movement is defined largely by harmonic and rhythmic means. The movements are constructed of sections that employ contraSting keys, harmonies, meters, and rhythms. For example, the dance in the first movement is in a quintuple meter and includes a vigorous, dotted rhythm comprised of octatonic scales beginning in the tonality of C. The sections before and following the dance are in different keys and contain a much slower harmonic rhythm. However, the text, dotted rhythms, and general tempo are characteristic of the sections and the first movement in general. The refrain phrase mentioned above supplies further coherence within the outer movements. The following analysis of Psalm 47 is presented in three sections. The first will explore the relationship of 40 the psalm text to the musical setting. Following a brief discussion of the psalm text and the version used by Schmitt, examples of word painting and tonal allegory in the melodies and harmony of the work will be explored. The second section of the chapter examines the melodic material in terms of expressive power, motivic construction, aptitude for modification, and the frequent use of exotic elements. The final section investigates the harmonic content of the composition. Schmitt's modernization of traditional techniques and his harmonic innovations which were to become associated with the music of some of his more famous contemporaries are specific topics in this section. A thorough historic comparison of the music of Schmitt and other nineteenth- and twentieth-century composers is reserved for the summary following a review of his compositional style in his other compositions and in the two works that comprise the main body of this paper. 41 Text and Music Relationship To the Choirmaster. A Psalm for the Songs of Korah1 1. Clap your hands, all ye peoples, shout unto God with the voice of joy. 2. For the Lord most high is terrible, a great king over all the earth. 3. He subdues the people under us, and the nations under our feet. 4. He chooses our inheritance for us, the glory of Jacob, whom He loves. 5. God has ascended amid rejoicing, the Lord with the sound of the trumpet. 6. Sing praises to our King, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. 7. For God is the King of all the earth, sing a hymn. 8. God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne. 9. The princes of the peoples have gathered together with the peeple of the God of Abraham. For the illustrious of the earth are of God: He is greatly exalted. 1Korah was a Levite who led an insurrection against Moses and Aaron. His descendants lived in the early fifth and late fourth centuries B.C. as a powerful family with a high musical reputation. They guarded the temple entrance and sang the psalms. In addition to Psalm 47, ten other psalms are dedicated to this guild of celebrated singers. 42 When grouped with Psalms 46 and 48, Psalm 47 completes a trilogy of praise.2 Psalm 46 celebrates God's ultimate victory over all nations. It describes His kingdom of Zion (Jerusalem) and guarantees the city's infinite security.3 Psalm 48 also praises the city and reassures us of God's invincibility. Psalm 47 summons all nations to praise the God of Israel with songs of joy and the clapping of hands. It proclaims His sovereignty and expands the thought that He is a great king who rules the whole earth. His omnipotence has been demonstrated to the people of Israel by His almighty power and His conquest of all other nations. His ascension to the throne is accompanied by songs of victory and trumpet fanfares. The final earthly enthronement and rule of the God of Israel and the ensuing celebration also link Psalm 47 with Psalms 93 and 95-99. These hymns are eschatological in nature since they portray a future event at the end of an era-~the union of all nations in celebration of the one King. The psalmist, just as the prophet, envisions the action of 2The numeration of the Psalms in the Hebrew Bible and versions derived from it differs from the Septuagint, Vulgate and their derived versions since the latter joined Psalms 9 and 10 and 114 and 115 but divided 116 and 147 into two psalms each. Schmitt originally entitled the piece Psaume XLVI, the numbering of the Septuagint, but he changed it to Psaume XLVII in the 1909 vocal score in keeping with a new translation of the ancient Hebrew text, probably by Rudolf Kittel and Paul Kahle (Biblica Hebraica, 1906). 3Verse one inspired Luther's hymn, "A Mighty Fortress." 43 the future as occurring in the present and supplies the verbs with present tense endings. In this way, the future ascension of God as the one King over all nations appears inevitable to the nonbeliever since, in the telling, it appears to have happened already. Of particular interest is the historical connection of the enthronement of God to the Babylonian celebration of earthly kings on the Hebrew New Year's Day in postexilic times.4 In this ceremony Yahweh was represented symbolically by the Hebrew King in a procession of the ark of the covenant,5 the symbol of God's presence, to the synagogue, the symbol of heaven. It is possible that verses 5 through 9 of Psalm 47 were written to accompany this religious ceremony. There is evidence that the psalm was recited seven times prior to the trumpet fanfares which marked the annual festival.6 Psalm 48 generally supports this historical connection in verses 12 and 13. Here it calls for initiates of the new faith to process around Jerusalem to reinforce their belief in the strength of the city and their new God. 4Sigmund Mowinckel, "Das Thronbesteigungsfest Jahwfis und der Ursprung der Eschatologie," Psalmenstudien, Vol. II (Kristiania: Jacob Dybwab, 1921-1924), p. 31. SThe ark was a large chest of wood and gold with rings for transport. It contained the tables of the law, Aaron's rod, and a pot of manna. Since it was believed that God appeared on and spoke from the ark, it frequently accompanied the army to battle to assure God's assistance and victory. 6Mowinckel, p. 31. 44 Psalm 47 also may be regarded as a messianic psalm since verse 5, "God has ascended," is a symbolic prophesy of Christ's ascension as well as the more literal statement of God's return to heaven. As such, the psalm has been used since ancient times as a special psalm for Ascension Day. Schmitt adopted a French prose translation of this psalm by Isaac Luis Lemaistre de Sacy (fig. 2-1).7 The nine verses of the psalm are ordered in three strophes of 4 + 3 + 3 lines. Schmitt used only the first five verses. He added a phrase, "Glory to God," as a summation of the psalm and used it as a textual and musical unifying device in his setting. He elaborated the verses by including adjectives and adverbs and interjected some material from later verses. Verse two, in particular, contains free grammatical variations on the statement of God's power. Although the verses are not given in strict sequence, the never-exact repetitions of verses and music serve to unify the work rather than to diffuse it. 7Sacy (1613-1684), a French theologian, translated the Old Testament during a two-year confinement in the Bastille from 1666-1668. A strong believer in Jansenism, Sacy embraced predestination, denied free will, and held that in spite of a basically depraved nature, mankind ultimately must accept God's grace. All translations are by the present author unless otherwise stated. 45 Figure 2-1 Gloire au Seigneur! lations. frappe: des aains toutes enseable. chante: la gloire de Dieu! Htle: vos voix! Parce que le Seigneur est tris élevé et tris redoutable. et qu'il est le roi suprEae qui a l'eapire en toute la terre ' Nations, frappe: des sains! Frappe: toutes enseable! Iations. chante: la gloire de Dieu par des cris d'une saints allégresse. Chantezz Gloire au Seigneur! Parcp que le Seigneur est trls ilevé et tris redoutable. et qu'il est le roi qui a l'eapire en tout l'univers. et qu'il est le roi suprtae i qui 1e aonde est souais. et et qu'il est le roi suprfiae dont toute la terre a subi la loi. C'est le roi supra-e puissant dont toute la terre subit le pouvior. Il est grand. puissant. tris redoutable. Car il a le pouvoir sur le aonde. Parce que le Seigneur est tout puissant. trls redoutable st tris Elevt. Ou'une sainte allégresse parte des ccurs pour aonter vers lui! Que de vos voix et de vos Ines les chants de joie claaent: gloire! Sloire au Seigneur! Frappe: des aains toutes enseable! Exalte: vous a sa gloire! ll nous a assujetti les peoples. il a ais les nations sous nos pieds! ' Sloire au Seigneur! Glory to God! lations, clap your hands. sing to the gloryafGod! Join your voices! For the Lord is aost high and lost terrible. and He is the supreae king whose eapire is universal! Nations. clap your hands! Clap all together! Nations. sing the glory of God with acclaaations of holy joy! Sing: Glory to God! For the Lord is aost high and east terrible. and He is the King whose eapire is universal. and He is the supreae King to whoa the world is subject. and He is the supreae King whose doainions are subject to His law. He is the alaighty King whose doainions sub-it to His power. He is great. eighty, aost terrible. For He has power over the world. For the Lord is alaighty. aost terrible, and aost high. Let a holy joy go froa your hearts and ascend toward Hia! 'Let your voices and your spirits shout songs of joy: glory! Glory to God! Clap your hands! in His glory! He subdued the people under us. nations under our feet! Glory to God! Exalt He placed the ll a choisi dans son hiritage la beauté de Jacob qu'il a aiaée avec tendresse! Dieu est aonté au ailieu des chants de joie! Et le Seigneur est want! i la voix de la troopette (clatante! lations, frappe: des aains toutes enseable! Chantezl Htle: vos voix! Frappe: des aains! Parce que le Seigneur est trés Glevé et tris redoutable. et qu'il est le roi supriae qui a l'eapire en toute le terre! lations. frappe: des aains! Nations. chante: la gloire de Dieu par des cris d'une sainte allégresse! Chantez: Gloire au Seigneurl He chose our inheritance for us; the glory of Jacob whoa He loved with tenderness! God has risen aaidst songs of joy!‘ And the Lord has risen with the voice of the brillant truapet! Nations, clap your hands! Sing! Join your voices! hands! For the Lord is aost high and lost terrible. and He is the supreae King whose eapire is universal! Nations. clap your hands! lotions. sing ' the glory of God with acclaaations & holy joy! Sing: Glory to God! Clap your 46 The setting is divided into three movements as marked by the lines in Figure 2—1. The specific ordering of the psalm verses is given before the French text in Arabic numerals. A textual addition to the original psalm material—-"Gloire au Seigneur" (Glory to God)—-is indicated with an "A." This phrase appears five times in the work. It summarizes the message of the psalm and unifies the setting textually and musically. Its prominence and position at the opening and closing of the first movement and at the end of the last movement illustrate its importance in the work. The first appearance of the "Gloire au Seigneur" phrase is in measure 5 (fig. 2-2). The vocal parts are in C major with the soprano on the dominant. In measure 6, the phrase descends an octave and is imitated by the orchestra and men's voices in the next two measures. Full orchestra including timpani, suspended cymbal, bass drum, and triangle (but without organ) accompanies the text in a range of over six octaves. 47 Figure 2—2 Glolrefi nu Sei. new: moire“ nu Sei - g'neur! The setting of this phrase reinforces the meaning of the text in several ways. The simple, triadic harmony of the vocal part and the accented, syncopated, fortissimo attack in a high vocal range on the word "Gloire," musically dramatizes the strength of God. The key of the vocal parts also may be rationalized from the standpoint of tonal allegory. Several seventeenth— and eighteenth- century composers and theorists have defined the inter- relationship between tonalities and certain emotional states. 48 The best known treatise of this time to associate keys with the expression of nonmusical ideas is Das Neu—erofftene Orchestre by Johann Mattheson (1713).8 In this treatise and in others of this period, the key of C major is associated with the power of God and the joy and celebration of His glory. Schmitt's passage is a good example of a long- standing tradition of this association. The first word, Glory, carries agogic stress and is the highest in pitch. In this way the music imparts to the phrase the quality of command by implying the verb "give" or "sing" (Sing glory to God). Later appearances of this phrase, indeed, are prefaced with the word "sing" (mm. 100, 198, and 624f). The descending melodic shape may suggest the descent of God to earth as symbolized by the temple or the ark of the covenant. If God has gone up, as written by the psalmist in verse five, then previously He must have come down. In fact, this descending form is used for every occurrence of the phrase in the first movement. The last movement opens with verse five, "Dieu est monté" (God has risen). Again the setting portrays the text (fig. 2-3). 8Other important treatises are by Crfiger (Syn0psis Musices, 1630, 1634), Kirchner (Musurgia universalis sive ars magna consoni et dissoni, 1650), Werkmeister (Harmonilogia Musica, 1702), Heinichen (Neu erfundene und grfindlische AfifiElsun ..., 1711), Quantz (VersuCh einer Anweisung die Fldte traviersiére zu spielen, 1752), and Marpurg (Kriflsche Briefe, 1760-1764). 49 Figure 2-3 pp Dieu est mon- te, That an ascending version at this place uses the same rhythm as the descending form at the corresponding point in the first movement supports the idea that Schmitt used the descending melodic shape graphically to suggest the descent of God. The descending version, without text, appears briefly at the end of the middle movement, only six measures before the ascending figure of the third movement. The proximity of the two versions encourages their comparison and strengthens their relationship. Furthermore, after the first movement, the descending figure with the text is never used again in the work, although the text, "Gloire au Seigneur," does appear at the end in an altered form. Figure 2—4 compares all appearances of the melody and text in the work. 50 Figure 2-4 Nuaber of eighth notes per syllable Claire an! Sei-— gnaur! 7 3 1 7 3 1 7 3 1 7 6 2 5 2 1 5 3 1 8 "’ Dieu eat Ion——-té 10 4 2 9 With the exception of elongated notes on the first word, the proportion of duration of each entrance is the same. The chart to the right of each musical example in Figure 2—4 presents this correlation by showing the number of eighth notes per syllable. The first two appearances are exact except for a slightly modified harmony and the downbeat entrance. The replacement of the tam-tam and bass drum of 51 measure 5 with full organ in measure 100 constitutes the only major orchestral deviation. A nearly perfect repetition of the Opening phrase does not occur again in the work, and, although the text, shape, and rhythm are retained, each successive entrance is treated differently according to its position in the piece. The third appearance, in measures 200-205, is a single, homorhythmic statement without vocal imitation. Upper woodwinds and strings retain the scoring of the first two announcements. However, the brass fanfare material permeates all measures of the phrase, and a new bass theme is added—-one that anticipates the ascending "Dieu est monté" version at the Opening of the third movement (m. 420, see fig. 2-4.6). The modulation of a minor third upward to E—flat major and the more complex instrumental texture does not obfuscate the text. Rather, the added material contributes to the momentum of the passage, which connects the last section of the fugue to a reprise of the dance in measure 209. The climax of the fugue reiterates the summation phrase at this point in the first movement. The syncopations, accents, and dynamics recall the previous "Gloire au Seigneur" statements. The final appearance in the first movement occurs 25 measures later following the dance and a chorale statement of verse three. Over the space of eleven measures (mm. 230-240) the passage modulates from E major at pianissimo to G major 52 at fortissimo by means of a three-stage ascending chromatic sequence. Although reharmonized for each successive entrance and for the first time appearing in a compound duple meter, the music retains the integrity and conviction of the earlier settings of the text. Here it acts as the final phrase of the first movement, balances the first movement by enclosing it, and supplies material for a short transition to the second movement in measures 243 and 244. Although the "Gloire au Seigneur" text does not occur in the middle movement, the descending musical figure associated with it does. Most notably it can be found in measures 411—414, at the climax of the movement, only three measures from the beginning of the last movement (fig. 2-4.5). Also it occurs at several points within the second movement in various transformations and different forms. In fact, Schmitt seems to have drawn on the descending shape and the rhythm (long-short-short—long) of the phrase rather heavily for the musical materials of the second movement. A close examination of this phenomenon is presented in the section on melody. The final appearance of the "Gloire au Seigneur" text occurs near the end of the work in measures 631-661. This point marks the last vocal climax of the work, and Schmitt has reserved the only appearance of the text for this place in the third movement. The passage (fig. 2-4.7) is part of the recapitulation of a section of the first movement. This new setting corresponds to the second 31‘?" text (fig the dis‘ of ' (“it ass thi mix and con 001 US( Sei 53 appearance of the text (fig. 2-4.2) in the same way that the text relates the opening of the first and last movements (figs. 2-4.1 and 2-4.6, respectively). It is presented in the last movement in an altered form that retains the distinctive rhythm and dimension of all the other settings of the text. It outlines the notes of a B-major triad, with emphasis on the tonic and dominant of that key. Dotted rhythms and brass accompaniment have been associated with praise, kings, God, and joy. Evidence of this association can be found in French sacred music of the nineteenth century and earlier. As in Psalm 47, the Sanctus and Benedictus of the Mass pertain to the celebration of the coming of God. Dotted rhythms occur often in these movements of the Mass. For example, dotted rhythms and especially the use of brass instruments have been traced to the late Masses of Haydn and to earlier Austrian roots.9 The patterned juxtaposition of long and short values and the use of dotted rhythms within and accompanying the "Gloire au Seigneur" theme imparts the distinctively regal quality 9Haydn's Nelson Mass (H. XXII:11), written in 1798, contains brilliant brass fanfares that may be associated with the report of Nelson's important defeat of the French at Aboukir (the battle of the Nile). Karl Geiringer reports of the early use of trumpet fanfares in Christoph Strauss' Missa veni sponsa Christi (1631) in Vienna. Haydn A Creative Life in Music (Berkeley: The University of California Press, , p. . This practice dates from the masses of Fux in Austria. Denis Arnold, "Mass," The New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 11(1980): p. 794. The motets of Lully also contain brass fanfares. cal GE Ci 54 called for by the text. Each appearance of the "Gloire au Seigneur" text in Schmitt's work and the parallel verse five ("Dieu est monté") of the third movement, involves dotted rhythm accompaniment or the thirty-second-note triplet fanfare played by the brass immediately preceding, during, or following the theme. Verse two expressly states that "the Lord...is the supreme King whose empire is universal!" Trumpets were considered royal instruments in early music. The generous use of the brass fanfare in conjunction with this verse and throughout the work-—it is not restricted to the "Gloire au Seigneur" phrase--delineates a link with earlier sacred music tradition and produces a symbolic connection to rituals surrounding earthly kings. The first psalm verse (see fig. 2-1) is divided into three sections of text: "Nations," "frappez," and "chantez." In using these divisions, Schmitt has given three different but related versions of the first verse by concentrating on the visual image of the multitude in the first version, the aural impression of clapping hands in the second, and the lyric quality of singing in the third. The atmosphere of celebration and exuberant joy of the verse is never absent from these settings and the sheer repetition of the text--it occurs seven times-—indicates its paramount importance to the work. Each version is represented by a different melodic setting which occurs in the first movement and is reprised 55 in the last movement. The three melodies (marked A, B, or C) and all appearances of them are presented in Figure 2-5. Figure 2-5 Melody A 4 sear-tells“ - 1 j: j 1 1 - iwflm , A W- J 1 L 4 1 1 #1 fl Yj 1-_ # -—ll 1 _1 l r fi 1 I j 1 4‘ T '1 ~I J 1 x 1 J Y M 1 r it ——1 1 7 fi fi fir r v 1 fi shah-tea la (lo! - es de Dieu' trap.pea dea mains ton - see so . "m - NO. "fl“fl’“ 1 1 . A I #L J I fur-re: den min- tou- m on ssm- hle. ebaMea 1. gm- re a. 01.11.. nor-(sluts g .1 , J J Afi 1 J4 g I I I 3 JV 1 J - - I _' 'HW 2, , sag f %T g; :1 Isl—TI j 11‘ :1 T+ 14 } 7?: A j 1 fi fif *1 Y —1 V r V V r 'l a IVVV 3“ - “00'. trap.pea 9” mains ‘09 ' '1“ so aem . ble, oban-tea la [loi . so do Dieu! martsllalo I '7‘. f3- 3?ng . T I fifir’ 1* J fiL-{V‘ ;—fi fll I I 19fifi4 m Na - sloos, ”up. I,“ a" mains mu . 1.. so sen - bls, shah-tea la [10! - so do Distal—— 2 l. I. Hovimento inlziale (animato) _ Eif—ai $.33‘ if}; 1134133? 4" If 3% 1‘15““ , [T #13 1 1:14 1 j T__L I 4434 1 J } 1 3‘ j! i “1:2 Na sioaa, hop . pea ses main-L— Frappe: dsa nabs! Ila . uses. Melody B 3 s Listesso movimento [ ”My”- - A .f A e 1 3 ~ ~ was-=4 ; -1 r: is Frap - 'pea: Frap . pea! Frap- pea! Ja A r ’ . . z . g F", pea! F“, P ea peanuts ,_ F", pea . § A _, fil ; i 1'? fi : A: refif 1 1~¥k=da=Z?3:Eq1==9=¥%t;r—4h~—4s~—PL—1§ dss mains! Pup - pea dos mains! Frap - pea des‘ mains! ! A ; r x J _ #1 it : 3 r 7 J: 1 1:1 7 a; 1 : is 5 :L : ‘34J: 3f——h—4;;—4§ IV ' T dos mains! Prep . pea den mains! Frap - pea des mains! 56 Figure 2-5 (continued) J 1 j x 4 .fi 1 :L 1;] l j ‘ l j r j T I f x - t q . 4 _ - sou - see so- . sen - bis! .4 . j l 1 I ‘1 J 1 _1 I I J I T A! J 1 I I 4 ' L j #J 1 I ' l ' A J- 1 _P 1 w ‘I V sa- . sen - his: I - A J I #fi J fl 1 .4 A l T I .J I ‘ Y 4—1 :1 J J 4 1| 1 ¥ fi' I ‘0‘ . t“ a O o o N.’ j v . 1 J ._1 fl I j] - l1 3 4 .1 j J 3' ¥ I . I I _ --J_.r__J.—J_HJ__-¥____J Y —' fi fi' _‘ A a a .1 5 1-- A 1 1 J J Melody C L l 4 g r J A I _4_ j 1 I a] A-fl '-Q_1__ . r Na . Hons, ' frappeades mains! Full-1’03 ' toodss en . “m . , Me! No.- " Ens. __.. . _A 4 . ’ r J 219"“:‘4 1 #223: —-—1——:—~o :3. Jr; ;‘ 1%" 3 i j fi'fi’ fiv“ m L r 1 JJ'“—’n ; 4 ¥ fl - r 31*; 1 2 ' . “..., ehanteala glol - so do - Dieu! Chan- tea la gloi - so do l/‘Kfi I «”10“ made ("a-a ‘ __ :r l u; .11: Ill 3’7 h -4 H J A , ”fag—H J: .1 a 1 I 3.— 4 1 5‘5?% 1 411T J a U' I 4 I V l n jfi—r x I x j T Dieu par des cris din . ne sainte a! - lé, grew. as! Chan-tea,“ chanteaz 56 Figure 2—5 (continued) Un poco phi animate J J -‘—--_ —.— —- x 41 .fi 4 I '—-——u— ——_—-n— * 1 -1 1 4: —. I J .2 li— fi 4 JT 1 '— 1 A 1 ti. 1 , —.— ——v— v v V 0 Prop- pa do. In» ton - m an- - um - filo! a 1 4 ‘ --»—- fl f 1 fl 1 1 11 3‘ :7 A' fl 0. - —.I 4 J. I fir *1 J L 1 u.=-—o j J 3. J I I J ' l g ’1 4 0- :t Q: J ‘l 1 A v 4 n- 1 J g u a ~ ‘I v a. 0 m . u.’ O J - #- ‘l.'- J J 1 A 1 - ‘ 'lfi i l .x "if fir ‘1 ¥ x l I 1 1 j 1! A I A. ‘ ' J_ I 1 I V JL 7 #4 j. :- 4 I I - —r . V :1 T I . 1 3' 1 3 L F F 5». “I :i l‘np . pa in mint! Pup. )0: a. lulu 4Efi4i+—flfl—fid‘— 4—.——£ 51,- pet do. - at!" —f ——-- géJ—é—La‘iu-fi—a In and”! Pup. pa: in do. God! lulu! Pup . In. . In Melody C 687 - __..__.___ -___.. __.]'..__._:_J._’ H: m V - “0": ' “”9”“. ”a”! Inn-.1»: . Sou.”- cn . um - - bk! 1!:- npi-rn. ' ,_ . fi— were“. ~— —-+ 3:. j‘ 7{" 1 } jJ-g 21W ____,__1_*:_.—_tjo--—TI 4" n 3 If A e - j j; 3 W - “one, alumni: glol - u do - Dion! Chan- 1:: In glol - to de all m . ‘ l’u‘) 1.0 «r ado cute. __ - __ 1 Law L Jr !3 1.414.133 3 4‘1?3 v 37“; .1 Din par in ad: dh - no uinte ll - 16,. gun. It! Chan-tn, chantez: 57 Figure 2—5 (continued) 585 , g '“ ‘ i: :9. {E 3 j: “"3 LL. — E?“ E g fla-tionl, {up pea do. naino' dang". AA A L r E Qfif& 21%;; =£% 3:;__.rvfi<3 : 1*? .3; fi:?%§a;f 3 3 . . . . . ble! 1'- . “om. Pup . pox __ ton -' tn , on can . . > ninprnn’oo - f . a] (wee. h. EEhQE§===EjziagrlfiL ss 3: E“3&33;=;¢#==#Efizffifitifiaa I 4 E3 1 3 a 4T :3 3 1 a Ii 3 , #4 r: _ dun . us II 310! . re dc Dieu! Chan-(e: ls gloi— n . dc ‘ ‘ .,’ ‘ J ’ o 3 ‘ ' # 3 - x "WI—r. ‘ —‘5~r 9 —3 —3 3 3 3 3 —3 j 111 i? Jj J; '11 ii 3L 1 1 l n !_4 a - ~. . . . I ' Dieu pu- dco ..erh db . ac “mg. 3.) - lc . [res . . u. The meanings of "nation," a mass of people, and "frappez," to clap, are suggested in the mass of sound generated in the initial thematic statement and in all succeeding presentations of this text. (Schmitt labeled 10 and provided it this first announcement "cries of joy" with an energetic and declamatory setting. It consists of an unaccompanied (the organ part contains vocal cues) and completely homorhythmic declaration at fortissimo. The second half of the phrase charges one to sing the glory of God ("chantez la gloire de Dieu"). The omission of instruments at this point eSpecially reinforces the effect 10"Cris d'allégresse." Program notes by the composer for performance of Psalm 47 in the Lamoureux Concerts of December 15, 1957 cited in René Dumesnil, Histoire de la Musi ue, Tome IV: L'aube du xxe siécle (Paris: Armand Colin, 1958), p. 3825. 58 of this part of the verse. The text is represented musically in several ways. A performance indication of martellato interprets the clapping literally. The strictly compact and homophonic vocal writing reflects the call forfall people ("toutes ensemble") from each nation to draw together in the universal praise of God. The rhythm imitates the sound of clapping hands and suggests a regal quality through the use of dotted rhythms. It also faithfully presents the accentuation of the phrase itself. Only the first section of this verse ("Nations, frappez des mains,") occurs relatively unchanged in the recapitulation (fig. 2-5.2). It is presented with a different harmonic progression, as is standard practice with Schmitt. A new vocal presentation in octaves replaces the triads of the first movement. The orchestral accompaniment consists of intermittent, ttttt outbursts. In spite of these variances, the dramatic, homorhythmic character of the initial setting is retained. Since this reprise establishes the beginning of the recapitulation, its importance and position supports Schmitt's more elaborate setting. The familiar dotted rhythm on "Na—tions" and the pounding, quarter-note figure of "frap-pez des mains" of measures 14-23 is sufficiently reminiscent of the corresponding first movement section to define the commencement of a recapit- ulation. Representation of the text is more graphic in the recapitulation. The orchestra supplies powerful, eighth-note 59 chords marked with grace notes and accents in imitation of the vocal parts. In this way, Schmitt heightens the effect of exuberant clapping hands, called for in the text (fig. 2-6). Figure 2-6 NI dou._____ My . pu den ulna!— Pnpq»: den lulu! In . “can. ‘:':., ='~v‘.= §é§E§§==E§b§== '————- i3?": \_.—/ ' _ "I Ilom,_— fr . d l . ' ’ up p2: :- In mt_ an pol den mum. Nu - lions. I I'- noun—— a... . pu an nuns! Puppet Cu mm! In - “on... 9;: .mrfi” =£===~——= —_ "——"—- 3:5: “=5 =E=EEE=_ ‘ -EEE=EEE= JI- ISon-,..___ hp . pa: in pain! Pup-pol in mine! In . “on. Hovlmento lnlzlale (Animate) @’ ”>3"““““"““”"'-:': 0 I: I": o u an _ o ' . ‘- - ———=w====== :— === . -——-—-—-—_——— II .J! (Ii l I m I .ll HI III! 1 g! lllllllll lovlmento lnlzlue (animate) > >. ‘ i? ii: llillllll ll}: ||I|I||i| :33 Rf:- ‘ = :=:= == The impression of an announcement is achieved by the homorhythmic setting, forceful declamation, and clear pronunciation. It is uninhibited by the accompaniment of the initial statement and its reprise (figs. 2-5.1 and 2—5.2). 60 The second version (fig. 2—5.3) represents an elaborate development of the previous material. By concentrating on the first phrase of the text, not "Nations" but "frappez des mains," Schmitt has shaped the musical material from the text into what Emile Vuillermoz has called a savage, sacred dance in Z, a time signature that has become the personal mark of the composer.11 The power of the first version is intensified in the dance just as the text is concentrated and developed (fig. 2—7). Figure 2-7 38 131319380 movimento yuan"- Prop - pet! ’ Flip - pox! Pup - pa do. hp - pet in L’Isteuo novinento L’Isteuo movlmento 11Emile Vuillermoz, Musiques d'aujord'hui (Paris: G. Cres et Cie, 1923), pp. 113-115. 61 the strength of this passage comes not so much from the vocal setting, as it did with the first melody, as from the powerfully rhythmic accompanying material that imitates the meaning of the words. The dance often has been associated with the order of creation, and its position in Psalm 47 may represent the celebration of the creation of God's universal empire. With frequent accents and pesante marking, the straight quarter—note rhythm of the first version, suggesting hand clapping, is retained here in the vocal parts. The prosody also remains the same. However, the strict, homophonic vocal texture of the first version is replaced with a question and answer form between the men's and women's voices. Strongly accented dotted rhythms, scored for woodwinds, horns, and strings and punctuated by triangle, bass trombone, and trumpet chords, convey the impression called for by the words.12 The section (mm. 38-44) is repeated (mm. 45-55) in a more festive and fuller scoring with the full brass and percussion sections included. The voices, still rhythmically independent of the dotted rhythms of the orchestra, are reversed with the men answering the women. The repeat is extended to include "toutes ensemble" (altogether) and 12Schmitt's use of dotted rhythms traditionally associated with joy substantiates his impression of the text as "cris d'allégresse" (cries of joy). (Program notes of Schmitt, December 15, 1957). The word "allégresse" (joy) appears in the composer's grammatical elaboration of this verse in measures 98-99 and 619-623. 62 Schmitt's free textual variation "Mélez vos voix" (Join your voices). The second section of the verse, "chantez la gloire de Dieu," is omitted entirely in this version. The dance appears briefly near the end of the first movement (fig. 2-5.4). Several differences are notable. Foremost is the concurrence of the voices; no longer is there a question and answer form. The phrase begins with a single statement of "frappez des mains toutes ensemble" eliminating "Nations" altogether. A development of "frappez" in measures 212—215, comprised of a series of accented vocal exclamations, leads to a short concluding phrase with another textual variation, "Exaltez vous a sa gloire!" (Exalt in His glory!). This phrase replaces "Mélez vos voix" of the first appearance of the dance and paraphrases the second half of the first verse ("chantez la gloire de Dieu!"), which appears in a truncated form simultaneously in the alto and bass voices. Furthermore, the phrase, which is preceded in measure 200 by the "Gloire au Seigneur" theme, reintroduces the word "gloire," and Schmitt sets it to a musical figure that imitates the shape, range, and approximate rhythm of the "Gloire au Seigneur" setting (fig. 2-8). 63 Figure 2-8 64 Apart from the dotted rhythm in measure 216 that Schmitt continually associates with the words "gloire," "Seigneur," and "Dieu," the even quarter-note presentation (mm. 215-216) maintains the association with the "frappez" text without serious injustice to the language. The syllable "al" of "Ex-al-tez" is placed accurately on the downbeat and the minor elongation of "5" again appears to be the result of the customary dotted rhythm associated with "gloire." With its accented, ascending melody, a registral accent on the most important word, the dotted rhythm accompanying the reference to God's glory, and a harmony (dominant seventh on B over an F pedal in measures 215—216, to an augmented seventh chord on Bb in measure 217) that supplies a resolution at the word "gloire," the setting corresponds to and compliments the text most clearly. The third melody of verse one (figs. 2-5.6 and 2-5.7) occurs once in the first and once in the last movement. Although it is a more cantabile section than the other settings of the verse, it reflects the meaning of the text by focusing on the second half of the verse, "chantez 1a gloire de Dieu" (sing the glory of God). Schmitt rapidly moves through the first part of the verse "Nations, frappez des mains" with the brass fanfare that is associated with the "Gloire au Seigneur" as accompaniment. At the words "Nations, chantez la gloire de Dieu!" in measure 93, the fortissimo dynamic is reduced and the first example in the 65 work of rhythmic independence of the vocal parts occurs. The indication "expressive," at the word "chantez," and the rich passages that accompany the reiteration of this word in measures 93 and 95 provide a cantabile section that reflects this aspect of the verse (fig. 2-9). . ' '3 f0?!. , .V . - I p , ———-=_———__——_—: f ”fa-net 1 .3 ——-=‘=j.3.=‘-—I__.J :3 a 3 g 35‘ i L: j? a?" fix}: $‘—-j“_:$?:fi:‘ fl o la- “out, chum”: gloi - re do Dieu! Chan- te: It 3105 - u do Dieu par den ___—=: j afar-"r ' fifi J 4 T fl ififi j 17 I, i #1 J I ‘ fl Ir: J, g =51 :1” :j‘fi A 1 x A J’ifi enz: 4A; ‘fi v V T a v I: . lions. chunks... chm . m! Chan-ten- chm - (e: a. vcc «In > ‘ \ A ' 2. H - # fife!“ flit—1%,?tc #Mg‘ din-:3; ’ I WEE—r fl: 5 i 1 3 ‘3 g 1;: 1 j j 1 i J 1 1 fl In , dons. a.“ to: In 5k" do elm! Chm - m la loi - to 3: PM: c- we- in ”V04 n ’ A 9 x 0 ("It ’ t h .9 I 3 1L fl —- n ; J :nr A r1 1:- r L 3 ‘4——— L- 4 - W Y x —Ij fi 1 1 1 J x I -i—lfi L t 1 J Y I x l 1 l I T‘] I —fi la. otlom, chantez]: fl“ ° "— do Dion! “‘9' m It [101n- de Dieu par a... The reference to singing is strengthened by the absence of instrumental accompaniment in measures 93-94 and 96-100. While the rhythm of the first appearance of the text (fig. 2-5.1) and the accompanying brass fanfare figure recur in this version, the emphasis on "chantez" maintains the lyric quality and lush harmonies of this setting. The phrase ends in measure 100 with two forceful cries of "chantez" which lead to a reprise of the opening "Gloire au Seigneur" section. Reiteration of "chantez" at this point connects the third melody of the first verse with the "Gloire au Seigneur" theme. Thus, Schmitt presents "chantez" as the cantabile third aspect of the verse and uses it to link the verse to the unifying theme of the work. 66 Melody C (fig. 2-5.6) consists of a long succession of rising scale segments which reinforce the principal words of the verse. Beginning on A-sharp with the word "Nations" in measure 87, the phrase moves through C-sharp ("mains"), D ("ensemble"), E ("Dieu"), F ("Dieu"), F-sharp ("allégresse" and "chantez") to G ("Gloire") in measure 101. In this way, the verse provides a brief connective link between the chorale of measures 76—86 and the "Gloire" theme while it reiterates the entire first verse of the text. At the reprise of this section in the third movement (fig. 2-5.7) the vocal texture, dynamics, length, basic rhythms, shape, and function of the initial appearance are maintained. Again, the composer supplied a more complex harmonic fabric and filled out the orchestration by adding harp, woodwinds, timpani, and a dotted rhythm at this reprise. However, the basic texture, that of lush vocal lyricism presented in a series of increasingly powerful high points, remains unchanged. The reprise also links the chorale to the "Gloire au Seigneur" theme which is given in B major in measure 631. As with the first statement of this third melody, the setting faithfully imitates the natural accents of the words. With verse two the mood shifts from the celebration and praise of God in verse one to a consideration of the reason for celebration: the omnipotence and invincibility of God. The strong thematic connection of the first two 67 verses is apparent in Schmitt's setting. The text is set in two versions, and, although it occurs in only three places in the work, a great deal of time and elaboration, both musical and textual, is given to it. That Schmitt was aware of the function of this verse as a vehicle that logically justifies the celebration of verse one is evident perhaps in his use of two traditional forms in the setting: the chorale (fig. 2—10) and the fugue. Figure 2-10 m!- re- don - I tréo n-dou-u Pu . cc que [e 8e! - [new at his é - lo - vi ct uh n - don - h - his, a A A ‘L 11 1 fi ‘3 # :1 - Ifi J J - 1 L -— L I I 1 I ¥ 1 ‘j v ‘ at ‘61] at I. to! In - pri - mo qui a l'cmo pin on ton-u In Car - - N:- - 1 J J1; i i J 1 J x L 1 x 1 j x r V 1 W T '1'- v x W.‘ I A I ' . ' . at qu‘il est la roi nu - pn - me qui a l‘ . plus an tou- te In m - - n on - pvt . mo qui a l'om - pin up ton- to I: let . - _1 1 ' 1 4A A ‘1 A! l —— 571“;!‘31!’4 3a? 1” -’—3 {L n ' 1- 4‘1“; i=2: :% r s v v . N! et mm a: lo roi In - pd - - as do too . to I: u:- - o . J A - 1" k L I A 1 1 l x A i ‘ l 1 5 iv‘xir .41 f I} ’1” k. - - 3 n A - ‘1 ‘1 H II J n! s 5 C! «'0 out Is to! an - pvt-no cm! a Pen-pin en ton-to 68 The first appearance of verse two follows the 2 dance of the second melody of verse one in measures 76-86 and provides contrast by bringing the unrestrained rhythms of the dance to a sudden halt. This quasi-religious setting portrays to the listener both the rational function of the verse and the stark power of its meaning. Even the meter (3) and the tempo marking (lgtgg) contribute to the intensity of expression. The tradition of contrasting triple meter and homophonic texture with polyphonic texture can be traced from the Renaissance to the present. The voices are accompanied only by full organ which, in the composer's 13 The almost view, doubles the vehemence of the chorale. completely homorhythmic setting coupled with nontraditional harmonic progressions comprised of "magnificently perfect 14 lends chords that are as solid as the temple colonnades" a great amount of austerity and solemnity to the passage. The abrupt contrast at this point, the church-like vocal/ organ setting, and the seriousness reflected in the rhythm, melody, and harmony sustain the verse's emphasis on the Lord's omnipotence. Vocally the setting is very thick. Once again, two voices are divisi (the alto and bass) and by the third 13Florent Schmitt in program notes for a performance of Psalm 47 at Concerts Lamoureux on December 15, 1957. 14Emile Vuillermoz, Musiques d'Aujourd'hui Artistes d'Hier et d'Aujourd'hui (Paris: ‘0. Creset, 1923), p. 114. 69 measure all the voices are divisi. This compact vocal texture, within a narrow, two-octave range-—Schmitt omits only one of the seven possible notes in the first chord-- creates a striking contrast to the preceding dance secton. The melodic line for all voices except the bass is largely stepwise. The music of the last half of the first part of the verse, "...is most high and most terrible," receives the highest pitch of the verse and the widest vocal dispersement (three octaves). Likewise, the lowest pitch reflects the meaning of its text, "terre" (earth), at the end of the verse. The only irregular word stress occurs on the word "et" in measure 81. Its syncopated entrance and placement at the highest pitch of the second verse phrase may be defended by its position as the first word of the second phrase and, more importantly, as the third note of a descending scale from g2 in measure 80 to f#1 in measure 86 (fig. 2—10). The chorale also occurs at the most prominent part of the recapitulation in the third movement. Here its breadth and grandeur is augmented by the full orchestra accompaniment. In contrast to the first movement presentation, the orchestral dotted-eighth/sixteenth-note rhythms continue from the preceding dance into the chorale, which maintains the dignity of the first announcement yet is propelled with all possible force to the concluding measure by this rhythm (fig. 2-11). 70 Figure 2-11 Par . . - . L‘lstesso movimemo (J. J.) The forceful octave entrance of the voices rapidly gives way to rich vocal harmony, in a slightly different voicing than the earlier appearance. The melody and prosody are the same except for the descending scale of the second phrase which, in the last four notes, turns toward a climax on the word "terre" on a high b2. Schmitt's practice of altering the harmonic progression is noticeable especially in the second phrase, where the deceptive cadence up a major second to F-sharp major, in measures 85—86, is replaced by one of a falling major second from A minor to G major in measure 580. The metric structure of the chorale in the recapitulation is 71 more complex than the earlier appearance. The choir and organ are written in an unambiguous duple meter, but in the exact rhythmic values of its initial appearance in the first movement, and the orchestra is notated in a simultaneous triple meter. Schmitt maintains the separation of the sacred vocal/organ part and the secular orchestral dance, each exploiting the textual implications of their verses to the fullest extent—~praise and celebration, respectively. At the same time, the two thoughts converge at the major climax of the final movement and drive the work to its conclusion. The short but complex fugal section of the first movement also uses the text of verse two. The fugue is separated from the chorale in the first movement by a short appearance of the third melody of the first verse complete with the brass fanfare (mm. 87-100), by the first reprise of the "Gloire au Seigneur" theme (mm. 101-105), and by an orchestral interlude built on the "Gloire au Seigneur" motive (mm. 106—134). In fact, each appearance of verse two, in the chorale setting or the fugue, is flanked by verse one or the "Gloire au Seigneur" theme. The connection between these texts is strengthened by their proximity and heightened by the contrasting musical material. Despite the contrast in texture of the chorale and fugue, similarities in addition to the text do exist. The rhythmic values of the fugue subject (fig. 2-12) for example are proportionately half as long as those of the chorale melody. 72 Figure 2-12 a f‘ A H Par— ce que e Sei- gneur est trés é-l - vé e "as re-d u ta- - - ble, ct qu'il est le roi qui a l'en- pire en toutl'u-ni-vers, Par- ce que le .Sei— gneur est trés é-le— vé etftrés re—dou ta- _ _ ble, With the exception of the sixth ("Seig-tgtt"), the eleventh ("él-e-gé"), and the last four syllables of the first half of the verse, the proportion is exact. The similarity of the rhythms and prosody comes as no surprise since both are derived from the inherent rhythm of the text. Regarding the first notes of the two themes, both the fugue and chorale begin with anacrusis figures after a Grand Pause, although the chorale melody gives more of an impression of a downbeat to the listener since it follows the Grand Pause on the first beat of the measure (fig. 2-10). That Schmitt was interested in connecting the fugue to the chorale by more than just the use of the same psalm verse is suggested by his comment that 73 the purpose of the fugue was to prolong the "eulogistic nuances of fear" originally stated in the chorale.15 Since the fugue was to be an elaboration of the chorale text, the musical similarities between the two sections make this connection more obvious to the listener. Such similarities help the listener draw a parallel between sections that are very different in many ways. The thick polyphonic texture of the fugue provides a strong contrast to the largely homophonic vocal texture that occurs prior to this point in the work. While the chorale states the second psalm verse once in a starkly declamatory style, Schmitt sets it to a lyric subject in the fugue and liberally adds free textual elaboration even before the entrance of the fourth voice. Figure 2—13 illustrates the textual changes in the fugue. The underlined phrase is the original psalm verse. 15Florent Schmitt in Dumesnil, Histoire de la Musique, p. 383n., "louanges nuancées de craintes." 74 Figure 2-13 Farce que le Seigneur est trés élevé et trés redoutable, grand puissant, Il est grand, puissant et trés élevé. Car 11 a le pouvoir sur le monde Chantez sa gloire, parce qu'il est trés élevé. Parce que le Seigneur est le tout puissant, le dieu redoutable et élevé. et qu'il est le roi supreme qui a l'empire en toute l'univerSe! monde est soumis la terre a subi la loi C'est le roi puissant dont toute la terre subit le pouvoir. Qu'une sainte allégresse parte des coeurs pour monter vers lui! Que de vos voix et de vos ames les chants de joie clament Gloire Several musical passages in the fugue communicate the meaning of the accompanying text. The wide leaps found at the beginning of the fugue subject (cf. fig. 2-12) suggest the power of God. A leap of a minor seventh from the word "roi" (king) to "qui a l'empire" (whose empire) in measure 142 may musically allude to a mighty ruler of a vast kingdom. From the psalm verse the words "élevé" (high) for example, involve an ascending leap of a minor third and it is given agogic, sync0pated stress in nearly every case. "Redoutable" (terrible) is consistently given more durational stress than any other word. Usually, it is set to a rising third followed by stepwise descent. Furthermore, in the fugue subject the high note of the word is the minor third of the chord. This creates an emotional effect that reflects its sinister meaning. 0f the descending versions of the "redoutable" setting two are inversions of the first measure of the fugue subject. In another (mm. 172—173), Schmitt maintains an ominous setting in spite of the major key 7S presentation of the subject (and therefore the lack of a diatonic minor third) by replacing the ascent with a scalar descent of a diminished octave (fig. 2-14). Sci . (new ou— la tout puts. out... Is dieu re - don - u - - - I, I I.) J J x- I - fl 1 j Pu . co que lo Sol - (neur— L i ( ob-vé___.;_ ct Wu-douda-No! Predictably, the highest note of the subject occurs at the word "Seigneur." It is preceded by two ascending leaps of a third and a fifth, and followed by a prolonged chromatic, descending line. The prominence and length of "Seigneur" in the subject and elsewhere in the fugue illustrate the importance of the word in the musical setting. It would be inaccurate to suggest that Schmitt relied exclusively on textual considerations to answer the musical questions when he composed this section of the work. The fugue is a good example of a part of the work where musical concerns outweigh textual ones. At several points, contrapuntal requirements and the rules of tasteful melodic 76 writing supersede a musical representation of the text. Consistent representation of "terre" (earth), or the words substituted for it ("monde" and "universe"), does not occur. The melodic setting of "terre" ascends as much as it descends, and the expected results for these words (descent with "terre" or "monde" and ascent with "universe") are realized only part of the time. The prosody is accurate throughout the fugue, with only a few minor exceptions. The downbeat accent of "le" in the entrance of the answer, "Parce que l2 Seigneur" (For the Lord), in measure 172, is a result of an irregular entrance of the whole phrase (see fig. 2-14). What was an anacrusis ("Parce") at the opening of the fugue is now on the downbeat of the measure. Thus, the entire phrase is misplaced. Any unintentional misaccentuation brought about by this contrapuntal effect is corrected by a carefully placed accent on the original downbeat of the phrase, "que." An agogic accent on "Seigneur" and its prominence as the highest word in pitch further lessens any downbeat emphasis on "1e." The third psalm verse only appears near the end of the first movement between the dance reprise and the climactic "Gloire au Seigneur" section that closes the movement. It is stated in a straight-forward, homorhythmic manner and immediately repeated twice in gradually different versions. Unlike the earlier verses, it is not recapitulated in the last movement. 77 The text of this verse elaborates and qualifies the concept of God's supreme power and authority as stated in verse two. The third verse specifically outlines the results of the Lord's victory. It demonstrates His universal sovereignty by declaring that "He has subdued the people under us and placed the nations under our feet." Once again, the text concentrates on the absolute dominion of the Lord, and the setting reflects this message in several ways (fig. 2-15). Figure 2-15 Huvldo ed lmperlono I] m. um JILII 1. P'“' ' I". D I all In ul-llanl om no. pun! . Luge In unn enlui Ii'ésé =—= {E5f:$§§_ - , Lag-go as can cum! 78 The power of God is represented by an unaccompanied unison and octave vocal statement that recalls the first setting of the first psalm verse in measures 14f (cf. fig. 2-5.1). The dynamic marking (fortissimo), several accents, a tempo indication of Largo ma senza enfasi (Slow but without pomposity), and the expressive term, ruvido ed imperioso (rough and haughty), all lend support to the general mood of the text—-the victory of the invincible God. God, suggested by the stepwise vocal melody in characteristic dotted rhythms, is absolute in His authority,16 just as the text in these measures is more important than the instrumental music (since it introduces the new third psalm verse and is largely unaccompanied). The contrasting instrumental presentation of the "Gloire au Seigneur" theme in measures 221 and 222 merely recalls the purely human theme of praising God. The brass fanfare material of measure 223 is connected to the glorification of God and thus also is subservient to the text, which focuses instead on the strength of God through His actions. The fanfare connects the first statement of this verse with the second and, following that, with the third. Each vocal statement of the verse maintains its authority over the instrumental accompaniment until, in measure 230, the "Gloire au Seigneur" 16The expressive term in the orchestral score is "rude et autocratique" (harsh and dictatorial). 79 theme is taken up by the voices, and the stepwise melody of verse three is relegated to a secondary role in the low strings and an offstage trombone. With only minor differences in the scoring, the first repeat of the verse takes place a semitone higher in measures 224-226, in the key of E-flat. The connective brass fanfare preceding the third entrance of the verse is transposed up a tritone (to F natural) from its entrance in measure 223 (cf. fig. 2—15). In the final setting of the verse (mm. 227—229), a new soprano theme that recalls the declamatory melody of the first verse in measures 14f is supported by rich harmonies of divisi voice parts (the bass is divided into three parts) doubled by the organ (fig. 2-16). Figure 2-16 Ruvldo J 3"": , > D A A 1. A a, Wfijw f :1 ‘5. 534:" j; ‘3 i— n In. a u- n- jet. :1 _ I” pen - plan, 11 a n!- ln ln- floa- Iou loo ’3'“! ii a Ini- lea In. “on. JW 2 3 i; v 3 i s é % x 3 j i v v 11 am a u-ndd-fl... In,“ - plus, II a do In no don > > > A A 1. n Jul" @214? - , 3». 4:1. 1, 1 J . l—rr—r—j ‘r—s W ' ,fly'ix 11 am a nan-jet- tl__. loo pan - plea, II a III. In no “on aom ns ’10“! ’ ’ ’ > . . 9A n m a nan-jet- “..— loo pen - plot, I! a all la n- “on. IA” noun t t - v n- g 1 V I j I I y 11 V T ll not: a u. u-jct - ti__ In In. - plan, I: I mo in amflom can not... 80 The force and power of the text, so vigorously represented , in the first presentation of the verse (fig. 2-15), is preserved in this version. The dynamic and expressive indications are the same; Ruvido is repeated here to assure stylistic continuity. Schmitt retains the homophonic vocal texture in this third appearance as a musical indication of the strength expressed in the text. The dotted rhythms, used to a slightly lesser degree, still suggest power and kingship. However, with the three lower voices divided, to allow, in some places, as many as eight vocal pitches (mm. 228 and 229), the feeling of God's power is conveyed by a pure thickness of sonority. In this last appearance, the surprising richness of harmony, so closely following a stark, octave/unison announcement, renews and deepens the listener's impression of the authority of the Lord. This setting contains an example of word painting. The word "sous" (under) is depicted graphically by a descending skip (of a diminished third in measure 22, a minor third in measure 225, and a major third in measure 228) followed by a rising interval. The word meaning is reflected in the position of the word within the phrase. In a larger sense, the key movement (from D to E-flat to E major) also illustrates this aspect of the text by moving to E major from below. The dominance of the vocal parts over the instrumental parts in the first two statements of the third verse is made clearer by the setting in another way. Schmitt chose the 81 1ydian mode (a scale with a raised fourth degree) for the unison/octave vocal melody (fig. 2-15). This scale is reminiscent of the music of the Near East. The text alludes to the superiority of the people of that area of the world and their dominance over all other nations. Since the orchestral accompaniment is strictly triadic (representing Western tradition), the exotic, 1ydian melody is another musical manifestation of the text. The use of a monophonic melody for the dominant Near East and a nonmelodic, ternary harmony for the subordinant Western nations corroborates this interpretation. Schmitt was less careful with the prosody in this verse than he was with the previous verses. The dotted rhythms, so important in depicting strength or action (as in the dance), clearly take precedence over word accent in this verse. Unusual agogic emphasis on "a," "as-tt-jetti," and "les" is the result (cf. figs. 2-15 and 2-16). Neither the force nor the meaning of the verse is diminished by these accentual irregularities. If the prominent theme of Psalm 47 is the universal sovereignty of God stated in various ways in the first three verses and the last five (see page 39 for the complete psalm text), then the fourth verse departs from this main thought. With this verse there is a shift from the terrible power of God, His ability to subdue peoples and nations, and the celebration of his victory with handclapping and singing, 82 to His love for the chosen people and His gift of inheritance, the land of Canaan. It focuses on what God means to the Israelites (or, less literally, to the reader) and what He will do for them. For the first (and only) time in the psalm, the emphasis is on purely human concerns rather than on God's glory and might. Schmitt's setting of verse four highlights and intensifies this difference. The setting is as different from the rest of the music in the work as the text of verse four is different from the other psalm verses. It is this fundamental shift in textual emphasis that justifies such a contrasting setting of the verse. The verse is separated from the other verses by long sections of instrumental music and is presented as the only psalm text in the slow middle movement. Furthermore, its presentation sets it apart from the rest of the psalm since it is the only verse sung by a vocal soloist. With this contrast in tempo, style, and performance, Schmitt slows the activity and energy of the work and sets the scene for the announcement of verse five and the powerful climaxes of the final movement. The three presentations of the verse are separated by passages of static harmonies in which the voices sing "Ah." The first verse section is performed by a soprano soloist whereas the other two sections include the full choir. The main melody and all subsequent melodies of this verse are extremely cantabile. From a textual and musical aspect, the contrast 83 of this verse with the previous verses is most prOnounced in its first appearance (fig. 2-17). The melody is almost completely stepwise and rarely encompasses an octave in range. As in the earlier verses, Schmitt divides the text into two parts. The accompaniment is an offbeat figure in the upper woodwinds and harps. The extreme lyricism and lEEEE tempo remains unchanged throughout the movement. The melody, given to the soprano soloist, appears in measures 290f, above a relatively static harmony over a pedal A-flat. 84 Figure 2-17 Iopnno lolo -'»‘—--- —— 'I=:¥=====#— — ='='=_=———f-—= I'__ '— ——_- _ -— — -— It Mu . :6 do J- cob qu'il a I] . léel ._____. /—\ m .9 - 51%: ==§====§g=EE§EE=fiE < m :’-.‘L—w—_'—-—__-_ — —"‘-'———-‘ :l.' '- —= -===_=u"=——_———— — v r4 ' ' ’ Inn f—K \ == ,.—————.‘ J _ Perhaps the most striking difference between the setting of this verse and that of the other verses (with the possible exception of verse 3) is Schmitt's overt evocation of the Near East through the use of orientalisms. Orientalism in nineteenth- and early twentieth—century music is the 85 stylistic imitation in Western music of one or more parameters of Eastern music (especially harmonic color). Orientalisms in music can be found in the nineteenth- century French scores of Bizet (Pécheurs de Perles), Meyerbeer (L'Africaine), and Saint-Saéns (Phaeton). The use of orientalisms is more realistic and numerous in the music of Debussy (Pagodes), Ravel (Shéhérazade), and Schmitt (La Tragédie de Salomé and Danse des Devadasis), written during a time when French interest in Eastern culture was widespread. In Psalm 47, Schmitt reserves any overt use of orientalisms for the middle movement. The connection of the 1ydian scale with the third psalm verse (cf. fig. 2-15) is the only major exception. Verse four is the only verse of the psalm to refer directly to the land of Canaan, calling it the glory of Jacob. For this reason, the text suggests the musical setting, and the setting clarifies and focuses the meaning of the verse. This literal connection with the Near East in the music is noticeable from the beginning of the second movement. With the tempo change (to ttttg) and lyric quality of the vocal line, the orientalisms help to define and separate the middle movement from the rest of the work isolating the fourth verse. The Opening section of the movement is instrumental. (A.solo violin melody, imitated canonically by solo bassoons, contains augmented seconds, an augmented third, and a (diminished fourth (fig. 2-18). 86 Figure 2-18 . LOB‘OU-I 0 to] Menu) "all. Isl. p ”(to munch Lentou . J u: Mm.) wk 1!. v 1.7. v This section frames the melody of the verse (fig. 2-17) appearing before the soprano's statement in measures 309-316, as well as after it. As the choir and soprano soloist take up the verse four melody in measures 317f, fragments of the violin/bassoon melody are presented in the orchestra. In measure 343, variations of the two melodies are combined and the augmented second is found in the vocal lines of the 87 soloist and choir (mm. 357, 359, 361, 362...). Significantly, these orientalisms are found on the very word that geographically refers to the Near East; la beauté-—the glory (of Jacob). By measure 365, the original verse four melody is replaced by a variation of the violin/bassoon melody set with the text "La beauté, la beauté de Jacob!" and supported by ttttt orchestra with organ at the climax of the movement. The intervallic structure of the melody is not the only allusion to Eastern flavor in the passage. Bitonal harmony--G major in the offbeat violas, and D-flat in the pedal and canonic voices--provides accompaniment that contrasts with the solid tonality of the outer movements. The orchestration specifies mutes for horns, cornets, trumpet, and all strings except the bass; 'cellos in three parts; and sponge mallets on the suspended cymbal. A static section based on the pentatonic chord D-flat, E-flat, F, A—flat, B- flat in measures 331-334 also contributes to the Eastern mood of the movement. At this point, the voices, reinforced only by the organ and a pedal E-flat in the contrabasses, vocalize on the syllable "Ah" (fig. 2-19). This is followed by an extended, pentatonic passage for two harps and sustained «divisi voice parts with organ over an A-flat pedal point. Four xnuted horns complete this exotic section which separates the second and third statement of the verse text. Figure 2-19 A connection of verse four to the "Gloire au Seigneur" melody is found in the word "beauté." Since this word refers to Canaan or the land of which Jacob felt great glory, the translation to "glory" rather than to the more literal "beauty" is preferred. This textual connection is reinforced by a less obvious relationship within the settings. The violin/bassoon melody of the opening of the movement (fig. 2—18) could be viewed as a rhythmic variant (long-short- short-long) of measure 5 (fig. 2-2). The proximity of these themes, at the opening of the second and first movements, respectively, supports the textual similarity between "beauté" and "gloire." In this way, the theme of glory (of God in the first movement and of the land of Jacob in the second) allies verse four textually and musically with the 1’85 mm Fl; El: 89 the "Gloire au Seigneur" theme and, therefore, with the rest of the psalm. Verse five is presented at the beginning of the third movement in measures 420-426 (fig. 2—20). Figure 2-20 Dieu est Ion-té Dieu est Ion-té au Ii-lieu des chants dc joid The melody of the setting is pictorial, ascending with the words "Dieu est monté" (God has risen). The harmonic rhythm is nearly static. Chords change every six measures from C major to A major, to F major, and to D major for each of the four vocal entrances, which, like the melodic shape, are also in ascending order (bass, tenor, alto, soprano). With each additional vocal entrance the texture becomes thicker, the dynamics louder, and the pitch higher until a climax is reached in measure 462 on the note B. Figure 2-21 presents the four consecutive vocal entrances followed by four homOphonic presentations of the theme. Measures 450-467 contain the text of the second half of the verse. Figure AMEN {UP} 90 Figure 2-21 420 Dieu est mon- té 426 p Dieu est mon- té I Dieu est mon- té f Dieu est mon- té 445 f Dieu est mon- té Et‘- 1e Seig- neur 91 The setting does little to disrupt the natural prosody of the text. Only the relative lengths and general tempo (ltttg) of the notes differentiate the text setting from spoken prosody. The rising melody of verse five is the counterpart of the "Gloire au Seigneur" theme of the first movement (see fig. 2-4). It contains the same rhythm with an inverted melodic shape (rising instead of descending). Dotted rhythms in both melodies are associated with the supremacy of God either by praising his glory in the former case, or simply by stating his ascension in the latter. C major, traditionally associated with God, is the key of the first statement of verse five in measure 420 as well as the first vocal entrance of the "Gloire au Seigneur" theme in measure 5. A related emotion, joy, which may be considered a logical outcome of the direct textual links in both cases (that of glory and ascension), is represented literally by the word "joie" in measure 444 with dotted rhythms in the upper woodwinds at fortissimo. The second half of the verse from measure 450 restates the fact that God has risen, this time to the sound of the brilliant trumpet. A solo trumpet presents a single thirty-second-note triplet from the brass fanfare in that measure, thus literally representing the "sound of a trumpet" from the beginning of this second phrase (fig. 2-21.6). For nine measures, at two—measure intervals, the single triplet with trum; altei and tot in r (mm 92 with a seven-beat held note is alternated between the trumpet and two solo horns. From measure 458, the alternation increases to every measure and to two trumpets and four horns. Gradually, the time interval is shortened to twice each measure (m. 462), to four times per measure (m. 464), and culminates in the full fanfare at the climax in measure 466. The first appearance of the word "trompette" (mm. 455-456) is accompanied by two horns.17 Another example of word painting may be found in measure 466 with the word "éclatante" (brilliant, piercing). The third syllable of the word, "écla-tan-te," is emphasized by an animando tempo, a seven-count agogic accent, and a tritone structure of D-G-sharp in the vocal parts supported by an E ninth chord. The brilliant effect is heightened by the progression and scoring. The E chord is preceded by four measures of a G seventh harmony and it moves to a B—flat seventh chord in measure 468. The orchestration also represents the meaning of the word with brilliant trills in the upper woodwinds, repeated sextuplet harmonics in the violins, a full, six-octave string range, and organ, percussion (timpani, cymbal, and tam tam), and brass playing the fanfare materialthat accompanies the "Gloire au Seigneur" theme (fig. 2-22). I7The Psalms contain two Hebrew words that are trans- lated as trumpet. In Psalm 98, verse 6, nwnn is the word for an instrument of a long, straight, metal tube with a flared end (clarion). The word in Psalm 47, verse 5, was refers to a curved ram or wild goat's horn (shofar). Horns, trumpets, and trombones appear frequently in sacred French music of the nineteenth century especially the Tuba mirum of the Requiem Mass and the Sanctus and Benedictus of the Mass. Figur 93 Figure 2-22 inc? Sch mel whi me) am de or or l! I"? 94 Melody The most prominent characteristics of the melodies in Psalm 47 are their pliancy and aptitude for modification or variation, their intense expressive power, the frequent inclusion of exotic elements, and their motivic construction. Schmitt often used linear designs comprised of versatile melodic patterns that were manipulated into new arrangements while they retained the general character of the original melody. Sequence, modulation, inexact repetition, variation, and alteration are used to explore formal and expressive design possibilities. The presentation of a central motive or theme and the exploration of ways to elaborate, transform, or modify it is an integral aspect of Schmitt's melodic writing in Psalm 47 (and in several of his other works including Salomé, Dionysiaques, Réves, Musiques de plein air, Etude pour le palais hanté...). While the expressive potential of the melodies in this composition was investigated in the previous section of this chapter as it related to the text, the expressive use of rhythm, counterpoint, and orchestration in connection with several melodies will be discussed in this section. At least two important melodies contain augmented melodic intervals which are found in music of the Near East. Several others are comprised of pitch structures that contribute to tona Symm scal accc Most len; or is of an ca‘ in Th of 11 95 tonal ambiguity rather than to traditional harmonic clarity. Symmetrical scales, including the whole-tone and octatonic scales, and modality often play an important part in the accompaniment, counterpoint, and construction of the themes. Most of Schmitt's melodies are short and irregular in phrase length. They are often preceded by a motive that is expanded or incorporated into the first theme. Frequently, the motive is used to unify the movement or work and may be the source of more than one melody. The brass fanfare and the "Gloire au Seigneur" theme may be placed in this "motivic-unifier" category. Other melodies are comprised of one motive or interval that is repeated in similar or different rhythms. The main body of this section is devoted to an examination of several melodies from Psalm 47. Each analysis will illustrate the extent to which the melody supports or diverges from the broad melodic characteristics outlined above. The main vocal melody from the dance is the first extended melody of the work. At 19 measures, it contains two phrases of seven and 12 bars. The second is an altered and extended repetition of the first. The question and answer form, with the women answering the men in the first phrase, is reversed for a reprise in measure 45. Both phrases reach their climax at the end, and the final measure is the high point of the melody (fig. 2-23). Yigu “"4BE;‘ {-l W. (ms of% .1' 96 Figure 2-23 38 L“‘QSSO mOVlmentO - . ’rgnulf . ,- , A J I - J J J 1:- J- L j j 4I J .3 :4 3 -L 7: 5,3 ‘ J I 1 A J], J J) U 1 ”'9 ° F“! Prop. per! , , J __ 1 1 ji' L—_ -r l j A _L 1 Vi Ll j: 1 l- t I v J Prop . pea! Fray-pa! ’ unto J n, ’ > H-W_j_fl j j 1 fl ‘1. ——Jz:3————rj L - , IV I l T1 'Y j 3' . an - yes In mcim.‘ an - pea den mains! J ? , J J1 —- J -———r—:—-E’= : 1 § —3 f a; 1‘: 3 L J j j fl 4 1 J ?- ..fl. —"——!—___Jj 1' ' nap - we: do: mum! an . per den mains! A n l' I it; 2" 1’ n It . JP .9 :1 A‘ ‘V ¥ 3 In a 1‘ J! i 31 ‘4- ni: J11 J ;: an - pea! hop . pct. frappez, frappez! a 3 3 a i K1 1;, A, 4; if J—fij IV 1% 1:- mai- nil 1.4—; j j V Y I j i j I I ? T j 4* —' J j J J A fl 1 ——‘ Fray - pa! Frap - pa, frappez, frappez! A p A I > ’ A ’ ” ” 4‘ 1": I‘M—4", J -——: mj’g-E- J) Fray . pa Ila was! Prop .1»: «In mains! Prop - pa, frappez. frappez! J ’ ’ ’ J JP ,4 ’ l E if 5 . 5 1 J— X I l I 1 A j m I n J J 4] J1 L J j A A J_X L J J j: ‘A Y I 1 II I '1': 2 -.éJT—q‘qg 3 j 11 I j 1 j 1 4J #1 J A J J- I I j j ‘V j Y I? ' fi' Frup - pa in mint! Fup - pa do ruins! Prep - pox, , frappez, frappez!— I = A J J j J J1 1’7 4 J__ 3 A 1 T #7 Fri]! - ,0! den Ill“! Flip . m d. ..l..g J j 1 V X T J I f I J J 1 ‘- JJ 1 j j I J J J J —: 1 L31 J jJJ I I 1 I v j J— j i , ’ jfi ’ «E; 5 Prep . yes do. mains! Frap - pus do. nun-I! 4. 9'. ‘ - j ‘ _‘—: : : J I X J Prop - pox! ' flap . p01! \ 3 J - ‘1 J ‘ .J: j l ._ .______—___*'_——_’d I Y L l 1 ‘J j J J. J I I l 1 fl *7 I fifi : J A j A I LL J Prep . pox! an - pox! Fig ”5‘. m: 97 Figure 2-23 (continued) pa. frappez: Ha - “on, {up - pa: dc: mint ton - to on . m - this are Com fal mot mo se U- c} 98 Motivic construction is particularly noticeable in this melody. The first phrase contains three motives that are differentiated by range, contour, and presentation. Comprised of five quarter notes organized in a pattern that falls a third and returns to descend by step, the first motive, in measure 38, recurs a third lower in measure 39. The harmonic movement of this passage involves simple triads moving by whole step (C, D, C, B-flat). By contrast, the second motive is presented in an accented, pesante pattern that ascends by leap and outlines a fully-diminished-seventh chord. After an exact repeat, it is transposed an augmented third higher and abbreviated. While the women's parts retain a similarity to the first motive, the three-stage appearance of the second motive, in measures 40-42, with the differences mentioned above, creates a contrasting passage. The voices are homophonic in the concluding motive. The soprano and tenor voices and the alto and bass voices are doubled. Furthermore, the motive is reduced from five beats (of motive One and two) to two beats. It occurs three times in high vocal registers; the last appearance is sustained over six beats. The extension of motive three of the second phrase uses the repeated quarter-note rhythm of the first motive, from measures 51-53, and a variation of the rising second motive in measures 54 and 55. This method of construction, using short motives that are repeated and varied, is generally characteristic of Schmitt's melodic COTE COW nee am 3C 8? Pi 99 compositional techniques. Such a method provides the composer with a flexible melodic structure that can sustain nearly limitless combinations and variations of its rhythmic and harmonic content. Examination of this melody with its orchestral accompaniment illustrates the techniques used to create expressive energy in the passage (fig. 2—24). Figure 2-24 Unease mbvimvnto my"- Pup - pea! an . pea! trap - pa: in Prop . pa les - - ”In! L’meno novimento ® punk 1‘”. 121319330 mdvlmento 100 Figure 2-24 (continued) l‘np - pt: do. A Pup . pa! Pup - pea! > ulna! main-E Pup - pea deal . ”i do. main! I M . pea «- mama! hap- pa! 1? frappez!— fnppcz! .— 4" frappez! ""P- ”I no nun! Pup - pa: in luau! Mop“! Figure 2-24 (continued) 101 Pup . pox! ’ - “A 102 Figure 2-24 (continued) The expressive power of this melody is manifested in three main ways: the suitability of the melody to its text; the driving, rhythmic accompaniment; and the complexity of cross rhythms between the melody and the accompaniment. "Frappez des mains" (Clap your hands) is represented by the straight quarter note of the vocal parts sung at forts and fortissimo. It is supported by an expressive orchestration of staccato chords played with pizzicato in the upper strings, horns, triangle, and grace note elaboration in the high woodwinds. The more abrupt martelé replaces staccato in the second phrase and the full brass and percussion section 103 (cymbals, tambourine, and bass drum) are added to lend intensity to the passage. However, it is the rhythmic activity in the accompaniment that supplies the active force to the music and propels the section to its conclusion. The powerful dotted rhythm is scored for the bassoons, contrabassoon, 'celli, and basses and is punctuated in the last two beats of measures 40 and 41 by accented trumpets and trombones (marked pesamment). It continues without pause throughout the dance and contributes to the drive to the cadence at the end of the first and, especially, the last climax. The motivic structure of the vocal melody shifts from one—measure increments to two-beat increments as each phrase nears the climax (mm. 43 and 50). The extension delays the final cadence five measures, but, in measures 53 and 54, the number of notes per beat is increased to quarter-note triplets. The B minor climax is reached with a crescendo to fortissimo. An inherent conflict between the instrumental, dotted—rhythm theme and the vocal melody is established in the first measure. The 2 meter is divided into three plus two beats, which is strengthened by the harmonic movement and vocal entrances by gender. The dotted-rhythm theme, however, conflicts with this partition. The stress that occurs on the third beat of measures 38 and 39 is quantitative and qualitative. The highest notes of the motive (beats one and three) are accented. This stress creates a two plus 104 three beat segmentation in this strata of the texture. This division is especially noticeable at the corresponding point in the second phrase (mm. 45-46), where the upper woodwinds, strings, and all the brass contain this accented stress. Such a conflict in the aural division of the melody contributes to the expressive content of the passage along with the dotted rhythms by increasing the power of the statement and thereby representing the meaning of the text more closely. The harmonic movement of the dance is largely ambiguous. Nonfunctional dominant-seventh chords move by whole steps under motive one of the melody (mm. 38-39). Movement by fifth from a fully-diminished-seventh chord to a dominant seventh accompanies the second motive (mm. 41-42). The third motive and its extension contain static harmony (mm. 43-44). The only unambiguous tonal statement is in the perfect authentic cadence to B minor at the climax of the second phrase (mm. 54-55). A less traditional method of creating harmonic ambiguity in his scores of this period is Schmitt's use of the octatonic scale. It appears in both the large- and small-scale organization of the dance and serves as the basis for much of the harmony and melody. The symmetrical scale, a pitch collection of alternating half and whole steps, may be seen as three intercalated diminished-seventh chords 18Joel Eric Suben, "Debussy and Octatonic Pitch Structure" (Ph.D. dissertation, Brandeis University, 1980), p. 7. 105 Figure 2—25 Collecrion l (A+B) Collection II (B+C) Collccnon Ill (A+C) The use of the octatonic scale marked Collection II in Figure 2-25 appears in the dotted-rhythm melody (bassoons, 'celli, and basses) in measures 40—41. Scale notes that fall # on the beat (eighth notes) correspond to the F (E enharmonic) fully-diminished-seventh chord in the vocal melody and harmonx and, in this manner, the scale gives rise to the melody and harmony of the passage. The octatonic structure labeled Collection I in Figure 2—25 occurs in the same instruments and rhythm in measure 42 and in a descending, two-octave octatonic scale that continues into the second melodic phrase (mm. 43-46). In this passage, the vocal melody and harmony (at least through measure 44) again is based on the octatonic collection below it. Harmonic ambiguity also is promoted on a small scale in the ornamental octatonic run (also Collection I from fig. 2-25) in measures 44-45. The dance melody, with its motivic construction, harmonic ambiguity, and powerful rhythmic design, is immensely adaptable. It is immediately recognizable and 106 easily modified or supplemented with new melodic material. The dance occurs three times in the work and provides the main motive (533311.) for the two longest transitions. In its reprises, Schmitt retains and intensifies the characteristics of the dance that contribute most to the expressive power. In the first appearance of the dance (fig. 2—24), the second phrase repeats and extends the first phrase. In addition to the reversal of the voices, the driving dotted-rhythm theme is placed in the upper strings and woodwinds thereby affording it a more prominent position and a more brilliant sound. The reprise of the dance in the first movement (mm. 209f) retains this orchestration. However, Schmitt has added an eighth, two sixteenth-notes rhythm (m) on each beat of each measure first in the horns, trumpets, and tambourine, and later (mm. 217f) in the upper strings and woodwinds. The voices sing "Frappez des mains" together--the question and answer format is abandoned-- and the harps supply arpeggiated, eighth—note chords on each beat. The result of these changes is a brighter and more forceful sound. This more brilliant scoring is coupled with a more complex and vague harmony with continued use of the octatonic scale as the basis of the dance. The modulation of motive two is up a semitone (rather than up an augmented third), and, in place of the authentic cadence, a five-octave, whole-tone scale in dotted rhythms concludes the reprise and supplies a transition to the first statement of the psalm's 107 third verse. The best example of adaptability of the dance is found in the recapitulation of measures 38-56 in the third movement (mm. 489—509). For this version, Schmitt omitted the voice parts from the first phrase altogether and filled out each note of the dotted-rhythm, instrumental theme and the octatonic scale with nonfunctional harmonies (triads and seventh chords) (fig. 2—26). Figure 2-26 L’lzggsso movlmento 108 Figure 2-26 (continued) 109 Figure 2-26 (continued) maroon > \ o The W rhythm alternates with trills in all the strings except the bass. It also occurs in the upper woodwinds, triangle, and tambourine. Lydian and octatonic scales are found in thirty-second-note runs. An even more brilliant presentation is achieved by the modulation, up a major sixth, of the entire dance. The second phrase (from m. 496) achieves greater brilliance through the use of a two-measure canon (at one-beat dispersion and at the octave) of the instrumental dotted-rhythm theme. With motive two, the voices form a canon (at two—beat dispersion and at the octave) that occurs simultaneously with a canon of the octatonic scale (at a three-beat dispersion and also at the octave). 110 The instrumental melody, which elides with the final cadence of the dance in measure 55, consists of a three- measure phrase that is repeated three times. It retains the tempo, meter, accompaniment, dynamics, and stylistic direction of the dance (fig. 2-27). Figure 2-27 111 Figure 2-27 (continued) G» 2 0 0 cos um. I Figure 2-27 (continued) The phrase divides into three sections of five, four, and six beats. All but the fourth phrase (mm. 64—67), which is extended by a repetition of its third section, maintains this asymmetrical grouping. The extension of the fourth phrase forms the basis of an ostinato in a nine—measure transition to the chorale. The starting note of each section forms a descending, three—note scale of whole tones. Each phrase descends a perfect fifth except the last, which descends a diminished fifth. The melody begins on the accented, second beat of the measure and is supported by abrupt, direct modulations at this point. The second and third sections of each phrase occur on the second and 113 downbeat of the measure respectively. This displacement from, and return to, the downbeat as a qualitative stress provides a strong contrast to the relatively unambiguous rhythmic structure of the dance and adds a new dimension of rhythmic energy to the passage. This melody is an excellent example of Schmitt's melodic composition using motives. The phrase consists of two motives: the interval of a perfect fourth in the first two sections, and the dotted-rhythm motive borrowed from the first measure of the dance in the last section (fig. 2-24). The initial section of the phrase contains eight perfect fourths arranged in increasing frequency and in dotted and triplet rhythms (mm. 55-56). The second section is a repeat of the first, a whole step lower, with the fourth beat omitted (m. 56). By restraining the melodic movement to a fourth, Schmitt has elevated the importance of rhythm in this melody. The increasing occurrence of the fourth, the jerking melodic motion of the interval, and the accented displacement of the downbeat combine to make rhythm the primary characteristic of the melody. The first two sections of the phrase are followed by the contrasting, stepwise motive, complete with ornamentation, from the dance (m. 57). This evolutionary motivic structure, where motives or sections of a preceding melody are augmented by new melodic material to create a new melody, is common to Schmitt's 114 compositions of this period. Repetition of the phrase, to the point of adding accidentals that maintain the accurate interval content (m. 62), is exact except for the incomplete and extended fourth phrase. The structure of the repeated phrases and the modulation design corresponds closely to the tonal design of the work. Phrases begin on B, F-sharp, D, and G, outlining in the order of importance the tones of a B minor triad, which is the most important tonality of the piece. Representing the sixth scale degree of the key of B minor, G, and altered chords built on G, play a pivotal role in the tonal structure of Psalm 47. Although the melody does not accompany text, it continues and extends, in instrumental terms, the sentiment of the dance in several ways. Schmitt has continued the representation of hand clapping, which is introduced in the text and represented instrumentally in the dance, by retaining the pizzicato string accompaniment on each beat of the melody. The basic orchestration is also similar. With its prominent use of dotted rhythms; similarity of texture, orchestration, and accompaniment; and borrowed motivic connection, the passage is closely linked to the dance in style and mood. In fact, it appears only in connection with the dance and only twice in the work. 115 As with the vocal dance melody, this instrumental theme receives much more complex and different treatment upon its reprise in the third movement. The theme is easily recognizable and very adaptable because of its simple intervallic repetition and distinctive rhythm. However, apart from two note changes that compress the perfect fourth into a diminished fourth (in mm. 514 and 517), the theme itself is unaltered in its recapitulation. Rather, the harmony is changed and three new melodic structures are added to create a more complex, thicker texture and a more expressive passage. Figure 2-28 116 Figure 2-28 (continued) “ {VI ‘1': I? ‘V The most prominent melodic addition occurs in the trombones in half notes. Labeled marcato and accented, the quantitative stress creates an internal rhythm that roughly corresponds to the displaced beat structure of the woodwind melody in the top staff. In three groups of six, five, and five beats, the relationship of the new theme to the reprised melody and bar line is given below. ("x" marks the position of the beginning of each of the three sections of the original perfect-fourth melody.) if flrfir’lflr we. A new motive is found in measures 508 and 509 in the strings. It provides a triplet rhythm that anticipates the triplet of the final beat of the first two sections of the reprised melody. Furthermore, it occurs on the third and fourth beats of the measure at the only place of inactivity--the tie-—in the woodwind melody. If this motive corresponds to 117 the first two sections of the woodwind theme, then the dotted, E—minor scale in the low strings (m. 510) correlates with the final section. The result of the increased melodic activity in this passage is the continuation on every beat of the dotted rhythm that comprises so much of the last two-thirds of the final movement. Such an increase in contrapuntal and rhythmic complexity in the reprise of the melody was discussed in relation to the dance melody (see fig. 2-26 above). Further examination of melodies in this work will demonstrate this technique to be typical of Schmitt at this point in his career. In spite of several similarities in the construction of the dance melodies and the first melody of the second movement, the principal sensation at the beginning of the middle movement is one of contrast. The nature of the contrast in text and style between the middle and outer movements of Psalm 47 has been mentioned in the discussion on text and music. The shift in mood is evident from the first measure of the second movement and is most noticeable in the opening melody (fig. 2—29). 118 Figure 2-29 LOIIOH-u 0 do] nude-u) 255 vuu. Ia. p molto mun-do Leatou . J «a mum.) V r Ff;- Perhaps the most obvious change is the tempo and expressive markings (lento, molto sustenuto, and espressivo). Additionally, it is the only section of the work in 2 meter. This theme is similar to the melodies of the dance in that it is a good example of thematic construction using a very simple motivic structure that is repeated at a lower pitch. Encompassing ten bars, the melody reveals an asymmetrical phrase structure of 3 + 2 + 5 measure units. The second 119 phrase (mm. 248-249) is a repetition of the first modulated down a whole step. The third begins a whole step lower but is expanded intervallically and extended. This melody is also an excellent example of a musical representation of the Near East, which is alluded to in verse four of the psalm. The exotic effect of the theme is achieved by the intervallic content, the canonic presentation, the whole-tone scale outlined in the melody, and the bitonal accompaniment. The intervallic structure of the first two phrases (descending semitone and augmented second followed by an ascending whole step) is expanded to a descending major third and diminished fourth in the third phrase. Augmented and diminished intervals are Schmitt's most effective technique in representing the Near East at the beginning of this movement. The theme is played by a solo violin and mirrored one bar later by the bassoon. Canon at the tenth allows for announcement of the augmented second four times in succession (mm. 247-250). The imitation is exact until the A-flat to D-flat leap of the bassoon in measure 252. Furthermore, combination of the long notes from both lines yields every note of a whole—tone scale except one.19 The use of a symmetrical scale as the structural basis of the melody supports the effect produced by the augmented intervals and heightens the contrast between the movements. 19The notes F, E-flat, and D-flat are in the violin and D-flat, C-flat, and B-double flat are in the bassoon. The pitch G, found in m. 250, completes the scale. 120 Furthermore, the whole-tone scale in this melody creates an ambiguous harmonic organization in much the same way the octatonic scale clouded the harmonic clarity of the vocal dance theme. The violin run in measure 254 occurs over a dominant-seventh harmony on D-flat (a flat two-one suspension resolves on the third beat of that measure). In light of this harmony, the scale may be seen as an extension of the whole-tone structure that precedes it since it consists of all the same notes as the melody. Taken with the tonic as D-flat and A-natural as a non-scalar tone, the pitch collection is D-flat 1ydian with a lowered seventh. This ambiguous structure is very common in Schmitt's works from this time and serves as the basis for another melody from Psalm 47 (see fig. 2-33 below). The final feature of this passage that contributes to the Eastern dimension of the music and heightens the contrast between the end of the first movement and the beginning of the second is bitonality. The canonic melody and low string pedal are in the key of D—flat while the syncopated viola accompaniment is in the key of G major. The displaced rhythm of the violas sounds as if the downbeat has shifted forward one eighth note. This intensifies the divergence of the two contrasting lines and enhances the effect of the bitonality through rhythmic contrast. Schmitt's use of two simultaneous meters (2 and 2) also reflects this divergence. Bitonality and polyrhythm along with the 121 augmented intervals, the canonic presentation, and the ambiguous scalar structures are employed to retain that feeling throughout the middle movement. Once again Schmitt has supplied a theme that, because of its distinctive motivic structure and the augmented intervals within the motive, is easily recognizable and is able to maintain its character through rhythmic and melodic manipulation. The theme occurs five times in direct succession in the first 42 measures of the movement. Each appearance is presented in Figure 2-30. 122 Figure 2-30 123 The second entrance, played by the same instruments with flute doubling the bassoon, immediately follows the first. The first and ninth measures of the initial melody are omitted in this version. The modulation up a perfect fourth is exact except for the final interval (m. 261) and its imitation. Further shortened and still played by the solo violin, the third appearance is accompanied only by ascending and descending woodwind lines. The canon is discontinued. In measure 270, with the fourth appearance, the motive of the theme is changed into a five-note line that descends a perfect fifth but retains the augmented- second interval of the original motive. It is treated canonically in the violin and solo horn (and in the bass clarinet, contrabassoon, and low strings in m. 273). The final appearance, from measure 274, is played "avec passion" in the violin, oboe, English horn, flute, clarinet, and horn. The motive occurs in one—measure segments, and the characteristic augmented interval is expanded and altered in shape and rhythm. A new eighth-note motive (4:j£I:I:L) is formed from one version in measure 283. This last rendition of the melody leads to the main vocal theme of the second movement (fig. 2-31). 124 Figure 2-31 A 290 This melody is an excellent example of an expressive line that is characteristic of Schmitt's early works and shows a strong tie to his French heritage. It is the only melody in this composition that is performed by a solo soprano. Other differences between this theme and the rest of Psalm 47's melodies are its extreme length (over three times longer than other melodies), range, tessitura, dynamics, phrase structure, and contour. Each of the three phrases repeats once in the order of A, A’, B, C, C', B'. The phrase lengths are 3.7/5? 125 asymmetrical in length with a bar-ratio pattern of 7 + 7 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 5. Its highest point occurs four measures from the end, but the G, near the end of the A’ phrase, nearly duplicates the peak. Closer examination reveals that every phrase except the C phrases contains a contour that is similar to the overall curve of the melody (a preliminary rise followed by a descent to the low point and a late peak that falls at the last note). Several traits connect this melody to French song heritage: the appoggiatura figures of the third measure of phrases A and C; the breadth and contour; the range of almost two octaves; and the optimism of the fourth psalm verse which provides the text for the melody.20 Furthermore, the tune is well- suited for the soprano voice. It is largely stepwise and very singable. With this melody, motivic structure plays a less important role in melodic construction than it did in the other themes. Phrases A and C open with dotted rhythms, which are characteristic of the work in general. The rhythmic similarities between these phrases extend into the second measure where pitch content and melodic direction differentiate the phrases. A stepwise rise at the end is shared by all phrases. While these affinities present themselves upon 20Frits Noske, La mélodie frangaise de Berlioz a Duparc (Paris: 1954; rev. 2/1970 with Rita Benton, Eng. trans. Rita Benton); Brian Primmer, The Berlioz Style (London: Oxford University Press, 1973), p. 13. 126 close examination, and the obvious repetition of the three phrases at different pitch levels and designs contributes to the coherency of the theme, the compact motivic writing and strikingly close relationships within the phrases of the other melodies described above is reduced in this melody. The reliance on broad, sweeping phrases connected through transposed repetition, in the case of phrases A and C, and restricted intervallic modification, as with phrase B, rather than motivic manipulation, augments the difference between this expressive melody and the others in this work. Although motivic construction within this melody has not played the important role that it has in some other melodies of the work, the composer has not overlooked the potential of using a motive contained within this theme later in the movement. A good example of an entire section based on a previously introduced motive is found in measures 392-396, where the eighth-note motive in measure 307 occurs over a static A-flat chord (fig. 2-32). 127 Figure 2-32 Q!!!“ Li“! ":5! pp]? 1"". ton nerd. liar-r o" )2 Born DIN PP? th th am On Str and C01. 128 The motive originally appears in the fifth presentation of the first melody of the middle movement (m. 283 of fig. 2-30). In this section it begins on the first, second, and fourth beats of the measure in a thick, contrapuntal texture of divisi voices and is written in the original rhythm as well as an augmented version (m. 394). The main vocal melody of this movement is very adaptable, and, as is the case with other themes in this work, it is different in each successive appearance throughout the movement. As the choir takes over the soprano's melody in a contrapuntal, polyphonic texture, the soprano soloist sings the exotic instrumental melody from the opening of the movement (fig. 2-29). All the voices are divided, and the choral lines are independent and more chromatic than the original theme. Octatonic and whole-tone scales ' (mm. 349, 361, and 381) and augmented intervals (mm. 358, 366, and 380) are found in the orchestra and in the expressive melody as well. Much of the contrapuntal vocal passage contains material from three sources: phrase A of the melody; the first motive of the initial instrumental theme of the middle movement; and sections from the fourth and fifth statements of that theme (see fig. 2-30). Orchestral techniques found in this passage include brass and string mutes, two harp arpeggios, generous use of percussion and suspended cymbal, measured woodwind trills (m. 385), and colorful organ writing. The melodic techniques in the 129 middle movement correspond, to a lesser degree, to those used in the rest of the work. This difference helps to set apart the middle movement from the outer movements. The dramatic implications of the theme, which introduces the third psalm verse (He subdueth all the people), have been discussed in the section of this chapter on the music and text relationship. It provides a striking contrast to the dance reprise that precedes it. Comprising only seventeen beats in 3 meter, the melody is sung in unison and octaves by unaccompanied voices at fortissimo. The two phrases are of unequal length but contain the same contour. Schmitt presents the second phrase in a slightly relaxed dotted rhythm which is shifted forward by one quarter note. The climax of the theme, in measure 223, occurs with the final cadence in B major (fig. 2-33). 130 Figure 2-33 Ruvido ed hnperloso a. m. a __ “.33 .33— M... . ..._ m..._ M. _3_ L—m. 1.3. a .1 _ a»_ n> 3.3.3 .= n._ n n! .... .—_. 3 3 3 ,3 (1‘ ..... .. .. _ m a: 3.3 3 .ma . uz __ u 3 .. _ an no .. «:8. n u . u _, L sown—roonu E. :.. _—oo _. .U C n.’ m: z:_m t: _ ...,.3 _ L... 3 . . 3 _ 3. ...= .3. "NJ ..4 Lag-go ma sent: enfasi 1 'i'l‘ fl ‘7 '7 1 3 1‘ - plan, ll I mille: Ila-lions noun no. pica! pen - I mille- Ian-lions lou- u Im- - plu. pied-E ”III a mille. n- lieu ii 33 3.3 ..3. .33 no. u . -- =- -- — —— . >.—-— = > ..—= =—r> u 2.... .3 >,..___ 3.... .>.,:__ m. a... 5 ”an“. .. .u-_ 9— 1! cu —. > .L' _ , -, m- _' I I I _:—fla’::5g1:-: 7 :p .H‘L. 3“ ____..-———-— 3:329:55: _“ —-—-—-"l ‘ n- — =—_ - ‘ --— v > tn wi in $01 col: mel Unit 131 The most extensive employment of the raised fourth scale degree is found in this melody, and its use yields a powerfully expressive passage. The raised fourth acts as a leading tone to the dominant of D major. Accents occur on the triadic notes of the scale and on B, the note of the final cadence of the first phrase. Additionally, A-sharp, as the leading tone in B major, is stressed. The second phrase contains no G-sharp, but the fourth scale degree is not used at all. It is possible to view the melody as an adjustment of the five-octave, whole-tone scale that precedes it. Emphasis on the other members of the whole-tone collection, B-flat (or A-sharp) and C-natural, within the melody strengthens this interpretation. A further connection is the enlargement of the dance rhythm from the whole-tone scale in both phrases of the melody. The raised fourth, in conjunction with a lowered seventh degree, is a pitch structure that is common in compositions by this composer (in this work it occurs in mm. 229, 441, 442...). Coupled with the forceful a cappella performance and the association with the melody of the "Gloire au Seigneur" text, the intervallic structure of the melody creates an exotic sounding theme of great expressive power. Of the several ways that Schmitt achieved musical coherence in this work, the repetition of a motive or short melody is among the most effective. The best example of unity of this type and of the expressive power of a melody 132 is found in his use of the first theme of the piece from measure 5. As indicated in the text and music relationship section of this chapter, this theme is the setting of the only non-psalm text used in the composition ("Gloire au Seigneur"), and it appears seven times in complete or altered forms and in many other abbreviated forms of lesser importance to the work's overall structure. Several themes share its rhythm or contour, and it may be considered a source motive for some of these themes. In much the same way that its text depicts the general sentiment and meaning of the entire psalm, the theme supplies melodic unity and generates many passages throughout the work (fig. 2-34). Figm Prf Sec- 133 Figure 2—34 Soprano Alto Tenor Animato Primo Secondo Claire se‘ 51] th CC or it 0) 134 The shortest melody of the work--it spans up to seven measures in its largest modified form--is also the simplest. It is comprised of a C-major triad in the voices that enters on the dominant in the soprano and falls an octave in two leaps of a third and a sixth. Also, it is the only melody of the work to contain only one phrase, however in most entrances imitation of the melody occurs in the orchestra and often in the voices as in the first appearance. Here the syncopated entrance, fortissimo dynamic, and initial accent acts with a full orchestration and dissonant harmony to depict the text with extreme expressive power. It was this power, in the opening measures and throughout the work, that critics cited as evidence of Schmitt's Teutonic heritage.21 21Many critics and historians have likened Schmitt to various German composers based on his affinity for sheer energy and powerful, expressive statements using large-scale resources such as in Psalm 47. Among the most interesting accounts of this Germanic connection are those by Octave Séré (pseud. Jean Poueigh), Musiciens frangaise d'aujourd'hui (Mercure de France, 1911); Georges Jean-Aubry, La Musique frangaise d'aujourd'hui (Perrin et Cie, 1916); Arthur E. Hull, Music: Classic, Romantic, and Modern (Books for Libraries Press, 1927); Eric Blom, "Florent Schmitt," The Chesterian 13 (March, 1932); Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi, Musicians Gallery, Music and Ballet in Paris and London (Farber and Farber, 1933); Martin Cooper, French Music from the Death of Berlioz to the Death of Fauré (Oxford, 1951); Norman Demuth, Musical Trends in the 20th Century (Rockliff, 1952); Héléne‘Jourdan— Morhange, "Florent Schmitt" Encyclopedia della Musica (Ricordi, 1964); Frederick Goldbeck, "Two Composers React against Debussy: Schmitt and Roussel," 20th—Century Composers 4 (1974). chat the mus (fi dii ch« fo VE 135 In the text and music relationship section of this chapter, I have listed all the major appearances of the theme (fig. 2-4, p. 50) and discussed the relationship of the music and text. The appearances in the first movement (fig. 2-4.1 to 2-4.4) are distinguished only by minor differences; notably some changes in pitches, duration, chord spacing and complexity, key, and, in the case of the fourth appearance, a new metrical design. The instrumental version of the theme at the climax of the middle movement (fig. 2-4.5) connects that movement to the rest of the work musically and textually. Two new melodies (fig. 2-4.6 and 2-4.7) in the final movement are derived from the original version. The first is an inversion of it and the second is an expansive theme of a new contour that is connected to the measure 5 version rhythmically and by the text. I The "Gloire au Seigneur" melody of measure 5 unifies the work also by providing a rhythmic singularity (a) J. H, ) that assumes varying degrees of importance in the formation of other themes and sections in the work. The orchestral transition between the second statement of the "Gloire" theme in measures 101-106 and the fugue in measures 134ff is comprised almost exclusively of material from this melody (fig. 2-35). Fig Ava: Jann. 136 Figure 2-35 1 are“. a pen a pore pace n para 1 15 ' ocean-ado my" __ accelerate my" Us poco ritenuto airing. nut 01: poco ritenuto fr). e Yigr 137 Figure 2-35 (continued) 132 Un poco mono mono que lo Sci-pour at— oili-lo-vé_ atria-don- Un mono mono Un poco meno mono IV The inve diff han omi' sup fug f 11: co: f o rh me 138 The material appears in its original form (m. 107ff), inverted (m. 110ff), at a different pitch (m. 118ff), with different intervallic structure (m. 120ff), with more complex harmony (m. 127ff), and with the first note shortened or omitted (mm. 119, 125ff). This final transformation supplies the distinctive rhythm for the initial notes of the fugue subject in measure 134 (the Grand Pause replaces the first note of the "Gloire" theme). Another transition that connects the first two movements is built on this theme. It follows the fourth appearance of the theme and provides the rhythmically shifted accompaniment to the exotic violin melody that opens the second movement (fig. 2-36). 139 Figure 2-36 Lento (J-c o «i proudest.) '245 Vlolh Iolo p molto cannula Lento!) a J Col woodcut.) This same rhythm (2 i J J obld) is found in motives A and C of the long vocal melody in the second movement (fig. 2-31). Apart from the final climax of the middle movement in measure 411 where the "Gloire" melody is untexted (see fig. 2-4.5), the theme does not appear in that movement. However, musical material based on it is abundant in the movement and is pivotal in thematically unifying the movement with the rest of the composition. The accompaniment figure of the first melody and the rhythmic connection of the vocal theme (fig wit] con int the mo it I'M 140 (figs. 2-36 and 2—31) in the middle movement exist along with several other musical passages and themes that show a connection to the "Gloire" melody. The solo soprano introduces in measures 357 a stepwise, descending melody that is rhythmically similar to the "Gloire" theme (fig. 2-14). The augmented second (G-sharp to F) and the motivic treatment and direction after measure 365 also ally it with the exotic instrumental melody at the opening of the movement (especially the fifth statement of it in measure 274 of fig. 2-30). It is accompanied by whole-tone and octatonic pitch structures (fig. 2—37). Figure 2-37 panama Q 5 752 ' . A h beau te'.___ do h . now 44 360 Sent“ urn-emu . $3,121.. - g: e Zr 4; [.1 m. 352 A ' ~ WA E§E¥E§E223t__:__fi if firfl 4L~ .5- ' Efi V I 1 1 té____ «In In. . cob! Largo £2. 7 k I —’1’ 3 j z 4'. 1?: 3' H La bean - M, In beau (é dc J: . ooh! A 1e If t 1cm: sub of the in: (q1 co co rt t1 141 A less obvious connection is made clear by the example. If the rhythm of the "Gloire" theme is simplified to a long-short-short-long pattern, an interpretation that is substantiated by the elongation of the first and last notes of the theme in its reprises in the first movement, then there is a similarity between it and the violin/bassoon instrumental theme of the middle movement where two short (quarter) notes are framed by notes of twelve and nine counts (see fig. 2-29). Figure 2—37 strengthens the connection with a passage that appears to be derived rhythmically from the "Gloire" theme and melodically from the instrumental melody. The fact that the last movement opens with a melody that is related closely to the "Gloire" theme, thus establishing a connection with the first melodies of each movement, lends more weight to this argument. The sequential passage for solo organ of measures 396-403 combines the "Gloire" rhythm with the intervallic content of the exotic instrumental melody (fig. 2—38). Fi g1 br ur a] 142 Figure 2—38 Illi‘ Ilu (ll m The sequence moves by falling whole tones and is marked with brackets in Figure 2—38. While the melodic pattern remains unchanged during this sequence, the rhythm undergoes alteration that disrupts the metrical structure of the passage. Finally, the presence of the "Gloire" theme at the final climax of the movement and its connection and proximity to the opening melody of the last movement illustrates the magnitude of the role of this theme in the association of the second movement with the outer movements. The final melody presented here also retains a link to the "Gloire" theme in its opening rhythm. (7% 143 Figure 2—39 . Largo 7 6 ‘ V‘ a Monaural ct trio union-u at tréon-dou-u L‘r‘o Poi . so at trio :0 - don - ta J-«l "econ-u) 3 ‘ gal a l’cm- pm III ton- tc qui 5 Porn. pin ch ton-to Com] by 1 ent ten It mm 215) di\ se] 144 Comprised of voices divided into eight parts and reinforced by ttttt organ rather than orchestra, the passage is almost entirely homorhythmic with the melody in the soprano and tenor line. The composer called this section the chorale. It is the longest melody outside the middle movement and numbers two phrases of five and six measures. This asymmetrical length of eleven measures and unequal phrase division is duplicated within each phrase. The first phrase separates into a 6 + 9 beat segmentation in measure 78. Division of the second phrase is not as clear cut. Marked by a noticeable change in rhythmic activity--the second section contains seven quarter notes to three of the first-- a junction in the measure 83 segments the phrase into 7 + 11 beats. The text contains natural divisions at both of these points. This is another example of asymmetrical groupings on every structural level. The contours of the phrases complement each other. A stepwise ascent to the climax of the melody on G in the second section of the first phrase resolves downward by semitone. The descent is continued also by step in the second phrase from E to F-sharp. Rhythmic similarities occur between the phrases (cf. mm. 79 and 84). The longest notes are found at the end of each phrase and resolve downward by step. Along with the dance, the "Gloire" theme, and most of the last movement, the chorale is another example of Schmitt's use of an unusual and unexpected setting marked by striking cont exp: 2-2 is Gra voi cor th¢ Th. tr 88 CC V( 145 contrast in texture and medium to create a passage of extreme expressive power. The chorale follows the dance (see figs. 2-24 and 2-27) and the short instrumental transition which is also comprised of driving, dotted rhythms. Following a Grand Pause, the chorale is set in a $5382 tempo in 3 for voices and organ. While the setting presents considerable contrast to the preceding dance, it accurately represents the strength of a terrible God as called for by the text. The homorhythmic setting at fortissimo and the simple, triadic harmony, largely in root position, expresses a sense of reverence and power. These aspects, coupled with his use of traditional contrapuntal techniques (mostly stepwise movement for all voices except the bass, a 2-1 suspension in measure 85, and the deceptive cadence in measure 86, for example), proclaims, for the first time in the psalm, the invincibility of God. By following the general rhythm of its text and containing few leaps, the melody shows a stylistic affinity with medieval chant melodies, and this similarity lends solemnity and conviction to the passage. Through contrast in presentation, a forceful setting, and an evocation of the sacred past through the use of traditional stylistic traits, the chorale becomes a passage of expressive power that represents its text faithfully. mow rec mod th} en es vc v< 11 146 The power of the chorale is extended in the final movement to form the high point of expression in the recapitulation (from m. 30, see fig. 2-11). It is modulated up a whole step to E minor and appears in augmented rhythmic value and in a duple meter. As such, it is an excellent instance of pliancy in Schmitt's melodies especially since the melody, harmony (for 26 measures), and vocal texture remain unchanged.) Only a slightly different vocal scoring accents the brilliance of the passage, and, in the vocal parts, the austerity and stark power of the first appearance is retained. It is the instrumental scoring that increases the brilliance and expressive power of the chorale in its reprise. The instrumental parts are in Z and 2 meters simultaneously, and the rhythmic complexity is highlighted by the continuation of the vibrant, dotted rhythm from the dance. It is this rhythm, given to woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings at some point between the reprise of the chorale and the end of the work (128 measures later), that provides a final climax in a work of such expressive power and propels the work to its grandiose conclusion. At SE 11 147 Harmony Schmitt's harmonic vocabulary in Psalm 47 is tonal. At this point in his career there are no extended atonal sections of music and only rare instances of polytonality. In this work, the harmonic approach is essentially an extension of traditional practice. However, his application of tonal techniques is sometimes innovative. Thus, the accomplishments of Schmitt, in the realm of harmony, are significant in his modernization of traditional techniques as well as in his exploration of a harmonic vocabulary which at times anticipates the characteristics of the music yet to come from some of his more-famous contemporaries. Following a brief survey of some of the conservative harmonic devices, notably the modulations, cadences, and progressions involving mediant relationships, this section of the chapter will focus on the ways that harmony is used to dilute or weaken the tonal structure of the work, and the experimental or innovative techniques that function as structural devices or provide harmonic color. The harmonic movement of this work, as reflected in its chord progressions, cadences, and modulations, provides the strongest link of Schmitt's compositional style with traditional nineteenth—century practice. Key movement by third (especially falling third, which is very common in 148 nineteenth-century music) and falling fifth comprise over half the modulations. Less numerous are the key relations of a descending semitone, whole tone, and tritone. The least frequent modulations involve plagal movement and keys that rise a semitone or minor third. A summary of the modulation activity, divided by interval, direction, and movement, is shown in Figure 2-40. Figure 2-40 Tm2 TM2 ime 1M2 Tm3 TM3 ¢m3 1M3 ,LPh 1P5 'I'I‘ mode change Movement 1 h 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 Movement 2 l l 3 2 3 Movement 3 l 3 1 2 3 3 2 Total 2 1+ h 3 5 8 6 In general, chord progressions and cadences follow the same movement patterns as the modulations charted above. Although most of the harmonic activity is conventional in design, often Schmitt embellishes the basic movement with complex chords and nontraditional procedures. An example of an irregular approach to a traditional cadence is found in the third movement. The reprise of the instrumental dance theme, in measure 508, is preceded by the passage shown in Figure 2-41. Fig‘ 502' 149 Figure 2-41 u, . _. a- ~ — ‘ _ .-.‘v. — '= ' __= The cadence that occurs at the final pitch of the vocal dance melody as well as at the start of the instrumental theme consists of two simple triads—-the third of the F#- major triad22 in measure 507 is found in the bass voice in the full score—-in an authentic cadence: F# to B. This conventional cadence is the climax of an unusual and harmonically complex passage that is constructed of a series 22For the purpose of readability and clarity the symbols "#," "b," and " " will denote sharp, flat, and natural in keeping with traditional practice. To denote dominant— seventh chords, the raised "7" will be used following the root of the chord; e.g., G7. 150 of dominant-seventh chords each over a bass note a tritone from the chord root. The progression rises chromatically from a G7/C# in bar 502 to a C7/F# in bar 505. This is one of the few clear-cut examples of extended parallel chord movement found in the work. An eight-beat suspension of the C7/F# harmony (from the sff in m. 504) anticipates the # cadence of measure 508 with the preparation of F in the bass and of the C7 chord (prolonged in mm. 505-507). Voice leading # 7 7 in the bass from C to F# and in the harmony from G to C (the Neapolitan of B major) also prepares the authentic cadence. The descending scale in dotted rhythms emphasizes the notes of the C7 chord on the beats of the measure and is augmented by an ascending triplet figure in the trumpets and strings. This figure is_altered in the final two beats to # correspond to the F dominant of the authentic cadence: G-C becomes F#- # over these two beats. The bass movement from F# to B (mm. 507-508) establishes the new key in the traditional manner. Mediant relationships in progressions and cadences are common in all three movements. One of the first mediant progressions in the work (mm. 14-23) involves a circular #_D#_F#_A#_F#. progression around a central chord (F , see fig. 2—5.1). The initial theme of the last movement is repeated in several different keys from measure 420 to measure 444. The keys are organized by falling third, C-A-F-D (see fig. 2-21.1 to 2-21.4). As in the example from the first movement, no preparation is provided. (f Pi -LILII 151 The abrupt progression or direct modulation furnishes the greatest contrast of harmonic color. A progression from Cb major to a dominant-seventh chord on the enharmonic flat b major, D7 in measure 320, illustrates one of submediant of G the most common progressions in the music of the Romantic era (fig. 2-42). Figure 2—42 318 loop I. bun-H u’ruu'u you n". In this passage the exotic augmented second (A-Gb) in the solo violin is harmonized by arpeggiated chords a major third apart played by the harps. The Ab-minor seventh in measure 321 is related by tritone to the root of the preceding 7 D chord, however, the continuity is enhanced by the common tone in the lowest sounding pitch of both chords, F# and Ch. 152 Schmitt employed direct modulation, as did the majority of nineteenth-century composers, and, at times, he achieved startling effects of harmonic color or expressive tension. Such is the case with even the common stepwise movement of the direct modulation in measure 31. This modulation supports a vocal line of an ascending whole step (fig. 2-43). Figure 2-43 28 A frap- pez den mains! (up. pas do: main! - pa don nah-2 The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was a period in which most composers searched for and employed novel harmonic techniques which diluted the traditional tonal system. An examination of the music of Psalm 47 reveals that Schmitt's writing often tends to obscure or side-step 153 conventional tonal schemes. This effect is achieved by methods closely associated with Debussy and others. Liberal use of extended tertian chord structure, altered chords, chord planing, and static harmonies involving the pedal point, ostinato, or suspended harmonic movement may be used to weaken the tonality of a work. Schmitt's use of these structures for this end are examined below. The score is full of the coloristic use of seventh and ninth chords, particularly in the second movement where they support the lush thematic material in a slow tempo. Immediately preceding the first vocal theme of the movement is a passage consisting of a Gb—major-ninth chord with a major seventh (fig. 2-44). The ninth, Ab, anticipates the resolution, in measure 286, to an Ab—major—ninth chord. Figure 2-44 Animudo pochlssimo Ailmandopochlsslmp ’ 3 é’—\ 2 [News l' . m U 154 Figure 2-44 (continued) dun: son hold . u - In bun-ti do Ja- cob 155 The Ab pedal point appears in the high violin trill, marked in the interval of a ninth in the top staff and labeled come un trillo. It continues over a two-measure stepwise b b in mm. 284-286). descent of a seventh (from the note G to A The progression from Gb to Ab is embellished by ancillary movement by third to an Eb triad with the Ab pedal incorporated into the chord as well as sounding in the horn melody and in the strings above it (beat three of mm. 282 and 283). An Eb—minor-seventh chord, on beat four of measure b 285, resolves to the A ninth in the following bar, although stepwise movement or common-tone retention with the effect of the pedal lessens the authentic progression. The cadence involves traditional common-tone activity. The Eb and Gb of the Eb—minor-seventh chord are retained in the Ab9 b b9 chord is a common tone. b b of the G b (mm. 285-286), and the B in the bass and D to C in the horns is conventional. The Ab pedal (and chord The stepwise voice leading of B to A in various forms) continues through measure 302 creating some extremely dissonant structures when combined with the shifting harmonies (see especially mm. 295, 299, 300, 302...). However, a static effect is achieved by extended tertian chords, pedal point, a shifting rhythmic accompaniment, and plant dynamics. Another characteristic use of the pedal point involves a dominant-seventh chord on B over a pedal on Fh, a tritone away from the chord root. The passage occurs at the end of the dance reprise in the first movement (fig. 2-45). Figure 2—45 ._. m,_ m u mag“.— r". .#r _. no. 1. ._.__ 1.: i1 __ g; _ 11.1. .___. > u r. ..ub. . L. _ ._ _ 111.1___ 1_1__ -2 a __ __ .1. .1 1 .1 11 1. 1 __ 1. _ _ . 1:. _ :1. 1: :1 .___ . E .1__ .11: .fl mflmw1_.n_ a“ __ a ””11 ._ _ _m_ 113.11.111.11 .__ .1 __ ___.- . . . . ____ 1: __ 1.1111 =1 .11 _... . _ ,_ . 11.1 .1: ____ 1 1.111. .___1 1 3.1:. .1... .11.:11. mm .__W a“: _.n m_ __ _ 11.111. :1 __1.__1_1_1 ____ 1.: :" _wn_m mmu__n . :_ u. m._. 1.1.. .1 - . - 157 7b9 chord and the octatonic scale (m. 214), b Preceded by a B the F pedal anticipates the cadence to B in 217. The union of a dominant pedal and flat supertonic-seventh chord (F and B7 , mm. 215—216) comprises one of Schmitt's most frequent methods of defining a key center. This harmonic structure, involving a note that is removed from the chord root by a tritone, acquires structural significance within this work and others from this period. This phenomenon is explored later. In a melody that is based on descending chords or intervals, Schmitt often uses a pedal to maintain harmonic unity. The instrumental dance melody in measures 55—67 is such a place. Given in Figure 2-27 (p. 110), the passage is comprised of several melodic statements at different pitch levels. A separate pedal is maintained for each statement even though the chords change within each of the three descending sections of the theme. In each case, the pedal anticipates the authentic, deceptive, or half cadence that concludes each statement. Harmonic function is obscured also by the addition of nonchordal tones and by mediant progression. The latter has been discussed above in connection with Psalm 47. The reprise of the dance in the last movement contains a typical example of an increase in harmonic color and dissonance by an added note (fig. 2—46). 158 Figure 2-46 L Measure 494 contains an A7 on the first four beats. An # added D , in the bassoons, contrabassoon, bass trombone, and basses at fortissimo serves no other function than to enhance the sonorous interest and dissonance of the A7 chord. The harmony is clouded further by the alternation of the chord with one that is the enharmonic equivalent of a C7 chord in # b third inversion (B , E, B , G). The final movement and especially the recapitulated first movement material, which is systematically submitted to mOre complex harmonic treatment, contains excessive examples similar to this one. Yet another way in which Schmitt disrupts the traditional tonal system is by slowing or stopping the harmonic rhythm with the use of sustained, static passages and the ostinato. The static areas of the piece are centered in the middle movement with its lyrical vocal lines and thick, contrapuntal texture. The section shown in Figure 2-44 is one example. More obvious, however, is the passage from measure 331 where all harmonic motion ceases on an 159 Eb -ninth chord, and the choir, divided into 15 parts, presents a contrapuntal, four—bar passage based on two motives from an earlier melody. Figure 2-47 Other instances of static sections occur in measures 392—396 and 403—410. Ostinato is used more as a means of creating tension through rhythmic reiteration than as a device to invalidate tonality. It is found in the outer movements, in the dotted rhythms of the dance, and it serves to extend and augment the rhythmic excitement of the music in several places. A brief passage employing ostinato follows the first appearance of the dance and leads to the chorale 160 The recapitulation of this (see fig. 2-27, mm. 69—76). section in the third movement is vastly extended and altered (fig. 2-48). —48 Figure 2 A.— A «J. m. a 1 11 i _ 1‘ I‘ ‘ ‘ -= .2— ==_= 5 A. Em, Pu. nor... ‘ nun My 5 vb. _ 1 .1 ..._ .11.. 1 1 -— — An -——= .7 _ ”co Illa-("do L. -..s. _ . _ n! u. . _ F u ‘u. — O in. 1.... 11 . E. 1. 11 , _ V .I! I" .___ =_ . a- 1 firm. m h m. 5.1: 1... .11.. e 1 n. 1.1m. r. . = : . a _ 1 = W %— fluid. .1. @- 111. .1 ..5. 1.7 . __.1_ 1 .1 .. .1 11. .1.._ .___ 1,1» a..— K 2. [I‘ll [)2 161 With the gradual addition of brass fanfare material to a four-note ostinato in dotted rhythms, and the increased power, through dynamic and instrumental addition, of a pounding chord comprised of six whole tones, the tension _is intensified to an extreme degree. As a result, the cadence in measure 553 becomes a major climax in the final movement. The ostinato figure continues in a similar manner, but on different pitches, for 27 measures beyond this cadence, thereby maintaining a rhythmic drive that propels even the augmented values of the chorale (mm. 553f) toward the final bar of the piece. Having explored the more conservative harmonic characteristics including traditional cadences, progressions, and modulations and the more modern ways in which tonality is inhibited, there remains the discussion of experimental and innovative harmonic techniques found in this work. A general overview of the key scheme of the composition may help clarify this examination. Psalm 47 is divided into three movements which are performed without break. The work is in B major, but the key appears only very briefly in the first movement and nowhere in the middle movement. However, the chord of F#7, which as its dominant defines B major, is very common in the # outer movements, and F major, as a key center, occurs more often than any other key in the work. A simplified key scheme for each movement is shown in Figure 2-49. 162 The parentheses denote important chords that are not necessarily key centers. The first movement material that is recapitulated in the final movement is connected by dotted lines. A chart of key frequency, divided by movement, is included. Figure 2-49 (FW(§)(C7)F#AIb1|3bC 31"in aI {#(flgh c F#Eb(1'-#)§)D B EbF c E e H H': : :- :} :::::SbefaCGbA’DbEbAbdGEAbDb l | ' H .: :.: CAFDdadHEbcd E71”; $133433; B B7F#7b°7(G+)B Ced’eeindeJEerrfiflcngdAan‘afl‘Bb love-eat] 21 122 111 h l l 1 ll HovenentZ l 3 l 1 l l 1 l 2 3 1 Hove-ent32 1121 211 3121 ll 41 'uul 5 1 3:1;25 h 0113 2 1£31 5 1110 1 21.0 5 2 # The work opens on an F pedal in the timpani. To this note is added the tiered, brass fanfare spelling a C7 chord enharmonically--C, E, G, A# (fig. 2-34). Thus, upon the first entrance of the "Gloire" theme in C major (m. 5), the full chord (spelled F#, A#, C, E, G) is identified as an F-sharp seventh chord with a flat fifth and flat ninth. 163 This unusual altered chord appears so often, and at structurally important points, that its form is consistent. # 7 Furthermore, its two parts—-the F pedal and the C chord-- take on independent roles in the harmonic structure of the work, and, when combined, the collection defines B major more conclusively than the separate parts can. (The relationship 7 of F# and C to B major is defined fully in the discussion that follows.) Before the first verse in measure 14, C7 also forms the basis of the full brass fanfare. F# major is established with the first verse, and this section is modulated up by whole steps to Ab, Bb major, and C7 at the beginning of the dance (see figs. 2-43 and 2-24). The instrumental theme from the dance begins in B minor and # presents itself also in F major and D minor (fig. 2-27). The chorale, containing verse two of the psalm, opens in D minor and cadences in F# major (fig. 2-39). At this point, the "Gloire" text is repeated complete with the altered #9 F chord that accompanied it in measure 5. Thus, in the first half of this movement, fully one-third of the material # (43 measures) is given to F as a key, altered chord, or pedal point, while only three measures belong to the key of B and then only in its parallel minor (mm. 55-57, fig. 2-27). The melodic similarity of the fugue subject to the "Gloire" theme (see fig. 2—35) is based on contour and key. The fugue subject is in C minor and later (mm. 169f, # fig. 2-14) in C major. The key of F is stressed near the 164 fugue's end (mm. 190f). The reprise of the dance (mm. 209-221) begins on the altered F#9 chord and briefly contains the key of B major situated over an F-natural pedal (see fig. 2-45). A rapid succession of keys, in mediant and whole-step relationships, concludes the movement. The "Gloire" theme appears in E major and E minor and provides melodic material for the transition to and accompaniment of the first theme of the second movement. The initial section of the middle movement combines two keys a tritone apart: G and Db (fig. 2-29). Of significance is the fact that these keys are a semitone removed from the F#-C7 collection that is found elsewhere in the work. Again the tritone relationship is noticeable. As seen in Figure 2-40, this movement centers around the keys of Db and its dominant, Ab. Long, static sections on an b chord or pedal point are numerous (see figs. extended A 2-32 and 2-44 and mm. 335-342). The final movement opens in C major (see fig. 2-20) with verse five of the psalm. Some harmonic changes were made in the recapitulated material from the first movement # (see fig. 2-49) with the result that the key of F is more prominent at the return of verse one, B major replaces B minor in measure 508 (fig. 2-28), and the chorale reprise is in E minor and E major, the subdominant of B, rather than D minor (cf. figs. 2-11 and 2-39). It is not until the last 50 measures of the piece (from m. 631) that B major is 165 firmly established and even here, accompanying the final appearance of the "Gloire" text, it is in second inversion. #7 In measure 659, the cadence from F to B major is delayed by a resolution to a fully-diminished—seventh chord on B for eight measures. Just ten measures from the end, B major alternates 20 times with an augmented triad on G. The root position B-major triad is found in the last measure. Four generalizations can be made about the harmonic content of Psalm 47 at this point: 1) the tonal centers of F# and C are important in defining B major as the tonality of the work; 2) the interval of a tritone, found in the chords, progressions, and modulations, holds a significant position within the work; 3) the augmented—sixth chord is common in conventional and altered forms; and 4) the harmonic content and structure of the work often is related to symmetrical scales that occur somewhat frequently in the composition. The following discussion is centered around an examination of several musical examples that support these views. A passage may affirm more than one of these points, in which case, each will be identified. The role of F# , as a pedal point, altered chord, and key center, in defining the B major tonality of the work is evident from the above survey. This responsibility is shared by two other structures: the tonality of the Neapolitan scale degree in B major (C), and the augmented- sixth chord which is very frequent in the work. The initial 166 chord in measure five represents the dominant and Neapolitan #7b9b5 structures in one form (F ). The voices present a C- major triad while the orchestra, with the C7 chord from the # brass fanfare, adds the F pedal. In the brass fanfare from measures 10—15, where the tiered triplets that led to measure 7 five are modified and expanded into full form, the C chord assumes the major position in setting up the modulation to F# major in measure 15 (fig. 2—50). Figure 2-50 7}. 3% I at 167 This ambiguous passage contains four chords which are given in a reduction with the number of quarter-note beats each receives. The C7 chord is the most prominent. The whole- tone triad on D and the Bb-augmented triad include four of the six notes of a whole—tone scale beginning on D. The remaining notes (C, E) are found in the C7 chord. In measures 11 and 12, these two chords encircle the C7 and may be viewed as embellishment to it, whereas, in the last measures of the # half—diminished- # seventh chord in preparation for its cadence to F . The fanfare, more emphasis is placed on the C progression, in simplified form, is: '5 cg 0'“, fl Although the cadence is by descending perfect fifth (C#-F#), 7 # and the C# chord separates the C and F tonalities, the connection between the chord of the lowered second scale degree of B major and the key of its dominant is maintained from the beginning of the piece to the first unambiguous tonal location of the work; the F# cadence in measure 15. In addition, later versions of the fanfare strengthen this association through the use of the augmented-sixth chord and through stepwise movement instead of the descending fifth of the cadence. Notably, in measures 474-476 at the 168 recapitulation of this passage, the cadence, which is in the # same key, is changed to a French—sixth chord on C# (C , E, G, B of m. 14 becomes C#, E#, G, B in m. 474). The E# in the bass of the chord resolves by step to F# thereby reintroducing the dominant of B major at the beginning of the recapitulation. g i c; c‘? F’ After F# , C major is the most important key in the work. Although the key scheme in Figure 2—49 identifies only five cases of C major as a key center in the work, its appearance at the beginning of the outer movements and its association with the "Gloire" text, verse five, the brass # fanfare, and as an integral part of the altered F harmony, more accurately demonstrates its status in the harmonic design. A semitone removed from B, the key center of C also is defined by its lowered second scale degree, Db. In fact, the second movement, largely in Db and its dominant, Ab, maintains a similar Neapolitan relationship with C that C does with B in the outer movements. The chart in Figure 2-49 b and Ab as key centers in the shows three instances each of D second movement, and these are pronounced, including over one- third of the measures of the movement. Noticeable also is 169 b and the decreased the more frequent use of the dominant of G occurrence of F# major. The connection is most apparent where the movement joins the first and last movements. The bitonality at the beginning of the second movement-—the keys of G and Db are combined——corresponds to the relationship of the F#/C7 chord one semitone higher. Thus, in the second movement, C, rather than B, is adumbrated. The modulation to C major at the opening of the final movement is marked by Neapolitan movement (fig. 2-51). Figure 2-51 3.1mm —--- . L'lstvsso mnvlmemo (Into) “6) - g 5.:-7‘==éésé—‘-§555é=_Eé—as=5§:_f§=§§§§§§5§9=§555‘€255 -_ -=\== ----= ______ This cadence involves an altered chord on the lowered second bii7 11, spelled Db, EH, Ab, 0, ob) scale degree in C major ( moving by descending semitone to a C major triad. Often, in this work, Schmitt bases his harmonic structures and movement on symmetrical scales that may or may not accompany the passage. The reprise of the dance in the last movement (from m. 489) is preceded by a chord 170 b so: E, consisting of four pitches of the whole-tone scale (B and G#). The interval of an augmented sixth in the outer voices resolves to an octave A in the orchestra and to an A and GH in the vocal parts. The inner voices move by # semitone (C to C ) or are a common tone to both chords (E). Figure 2-52 171 Figure 2-52 (continued) L’istnso movimento movlmenw movlmento The whole—tone scale in measure 484 accompanies a G-augmented triad in the orchestra and an octave G in the voices, structures comprised of pitches from the scale. The chord preceding the dance (mm. 485-488) is an enharmonic trans- position up a semitone of the augmented triad in measure 484 with a Bb-E tritone in the bass. The whole-tone scale which serves as the basis of this chord appears in a four—octave harp arpeggio leading to the dance. By eliminating the dominant and leading tone entirely, the scale is an excellent struCture for weakening tonality. 172 Schmitt has achieved a percussive quality in this passage with the eighth—note chords marked martellato. In the even-numbered bars (from mm. 478-482), the figure occurs in the woodwinds and brass at fortissimo. Violins are added in measure 480, and all strings are included from bar 485. Timpani and triangle also contribute to this accumulating percussive effect. It is heightened by grace-note ornaments in the woodwinds and upper brass and triple and quadruple stops in the strings. Furthermore, the dissonance of the chord structure enhances the percussive effect of the passage. This technique is characteristic of the music of Stravinsky's Russian period.23 This appearance in Schmitt's music predates Stravinsky's ballets by six years. A similar example of the whole-tone scale used as the source for the harmony occurs at the point where B major is combined for the first time with the "Gloire" theme in measure 631 (fig. 2—53). 23The most famous example is the opening of "Les Augures printaniers" from Le Sacre duprintemps. 173 Figure 2-53 527 cvvua shun - tex- 174 The chord leading to the new key contains all the notes of the whole-tone scale, which accompanies it in dotted notes in measure 630, except one (D, E, F#, A#, C; G# is omitted). The relationship of the chord roots and real bass notes in this cadence is another example of mediant movement in the work. The most extended passage based on this scale is the ostinato connecting the dance and the chorale in the third movement (fig. 2-48). The use of whole-tone triads (comprised of a major third plus a diminished third) and augmented triads has been mentioned in connection with the brass fanfare in measures 10-17 (see fig. 2-50). The octatonic scale occurs mostly in the dance. This scale supports the full-diminished-seventh harmony since every other note of the scale forms a minor third (see fig. 2-25). The relationship of this scale to the ambiguous harmonic movement of the dance has been examined (see pp. 104f). In the approach to the second reprise of the dance in the first movement, the fully-diminished-seventh harmony precedes the octatonic run into the dance 175 Figure 2-54 33.73%3—5333 3 3 % Pup . pox de- .mww~~-—— 176 The progression here is from an Eb-dominant-seventh chord to the fully—diminished-seventh chord in measure 207. To this # chord, an F is added, and the octatonic scale (marked Collection I in fig. 2-25) is found in the piccolo part. The chord in measure 208 also may be considered an F#7b9, and its relationship to the first harmony of the dance in measure 209, reinforces this. However, when compared to measure 207 and in light of the orchestration in which only # the bassoons and low strings change to the F , the chord may be heard more accurately as a diminished seventh over the F#. The dance begins in measure 209 on the familiar altered F#—ninth chord, a departure from all other appearances of the dance. The change of only one note—-C# becomes CH--in this harmony from the preceding chord indicates its function b7 chord is established as a preparation for the dance. The E as a key, sustained for seven measures before the harmonic change in measure 207 of Figure 2-54, and accompanies the "Gloire" theme. The tension, that is built gradually from this chord to the diminished-seventh chord and to the F#7b9, is increased by a rhythm that is divided by pattern into duple groups over a triplet organization. The final progression of the work contains some interesting harmonies that are associated with symmetrical structures. It is given in Figure 2-55 in reduction. 177 Figure 2-55 1 658 659-666 667 559 671-681 %‘ Jig; r” E“? c”; WE 8 (6") 9 The final resolution to B major is delayed by a fully- # diminished-seventh chord on E in second inversion for eight measures. The bass moves from F# to B, and B is retained throughout the final 22 measures. In addition to the F# # authentic movement in the bass, falls by semitone to E . The tritone G# # -D resolves down a half step in bar 667 to form a C -fully-diminished structure in third inversion. This chord is comprised of four of the six pitches of the # whole-tone scale. In measure 669, the E descends to Eh of # the C -diminished chord. This Eh resolves to the third of the final B-major chord, and CH resolves to the fifth. Over # alternates with the the space of the last eleven bars the F Gk. Thus, a mediant relationship (B major to G augmented to B major) makes up the final auxiliary harmonic movement of the piece. The voice-leading of the last section contains 178 authentic bass movement, a pedal on the tonic pitch, and two descending semitone activities: F#—E#—EH-D# and C#—Gh—F#— cw. In Psalm 47, the tritone occurs in modulations, progressions, and to create harmonic tension through #9 7 increased dissonance. The familiar altered F chord is a prime example since it is often written as a C chord over # a note (F ) that lies a tritone from the chord root (see figs. 2-34, 2-41, and 2—54). This chord is reflected in the bitonality of the middle movement, in which two chords (G and Db), that are a tritone apart, are combined. The relationship to the altered Fifi9 chord is reinforced by placement in the movement and by proximity--the two structures are separated by a semitone. Figure 2-41 contains a chromatic progression of dominant—seventh chords over a note lying a tritone from the root (G7/C# ascends to C7/F#). A B7 chord over an PH resolves to a Bb—augmented-seventh chord in measures 216-217 (see fig. 2-45). Progressions involving root movement by tritone are less frequent than chord structures containing the interval. The E-ninth chord in measure 467 moves to a B—flat harmony. The same movement is seen in measures 491-492. Often, the tritonecfifa dominant- seventh chord is given to the voices, while the orchestra provides the other chord tones (see fig. 2-22, m. 466). Modulation or repetition of material by tritone occurs in the chorale where, in measure 223, the brass fanfare sounds 179 in B major (fig. 2-33). Three measures later the fanfare is given in F major. As indicated by the modulation survey in Figure 2-40, tritone movement is not pronounced at this level, but its importance as an interval within separate harmonic structures and as a device to cloud tonality in connection with symmetrical scales has been demonstrated. CHAPTER III AN ANALYSIS OF , LA TRAGEDIE DE SALOME The success of the Prix de Rome concert in December, 1906, and, in particular, the favorable reception of Psalm 47 encouraged the young composer. In the years following his return from the Prix travels, he wrote works for piano, orchestra, harp with string quartet, and vocal quartet with orchestra. While these compositions are shorter pieces, they exhibit a continuation of the style traits that Schmitt established in Psalm 47. Schmitt completed La Tragédie de Salomé for orchestra and dancers in 1907, while he was at his home in the Pyrennes. He labeled it a mute drama: an artificial title that does not delineate it in any way from the long heritage of ballet that existed in France from the seventeenth century. Schmitt's Salomé was originally composed for costumed dancers and chamber orchestra accompaniment with scenery. Apart from the untexted folk song, performed by soprano soloist and repeated by women vocalists, no sung or spoken words exist in the score. The main characters in the first production of the piece were Salomé, Herod, Herodias, and John the Baptist. Miss Loie Fuller, an American, who had established a 180 181 celebrated dancing career with her performances at the Paris Exposition of 1889, danced the role of Salomé. The majority of the action was limited to a series of solo dances for her. In fact, most later ballet performances of the work were performed by a solo dancer. In 1910 Schmitt rescored the piece for full orchestra. It is this version that established him as a major French composer. Miss Fuller was one of the most famous and interesting dancers of the period. Her style of dancing practically nude under several layers of opaque linens and gauze made her a most popular attraction in Paris at this time. At one point in her career, she employed fifteen electricians to shine and flash different colored lights on her during the performance. She also often gave the illusion of having incredibly long arms, or wings, under the fabric, by holding long poles in her hands over which the material was draped. The Salomé scenario called for just the sensational effects that Miss Fuller was famous for. Colored images were projected on the dancer and scenery using colored film negatives and a giant kaleidoscope. She insisted on dozens of tests to determine the perfect reflection on the decor. The colored negatives were part of her personal collection which she claimed was the only one of its kind in the world.1 1D. -E. Inghelbrecht, Mouvement Contraire; Souvenirs d'un musicien (Paris: Domat, I947), p. 239. 182 In this way, the images of flames and shadows were projected onto the surface of the Dead Sea; flowers and serpents were shown on Salomé's scarves; glacial landscapes covered the mountainous background; and the image of the decapitated head of John the Baptist loomed from different parts of the stage. In the "Danse des perles" from the first act, sparks of light shoot out of a chest filled with jewels. Salomé adorns herself with the jewelry and dances in great whirling circles.2 In the second act, mysterious lights arise from the Dead Sea and vapors begin to take shape. Salomé appears, and the "Danse des éclairs" begins with a vivid display of blinding lightning flashes. To create this effect, Miss Fuller held electric lights in each hand, and, as she brought them together, a fireball descended from the top of the stage to vanish at her feet. This special effect was attempted by running a bright, fluorescent bulb down a thin iron wire. The bulb invariably got caught during its descent and ruined what she called her best trick.3 Although the piece was scored for a reduced orchestra of only 20 instruments, Schmitt achieved a musical power that thrilled the first audiences. The success of the work owed more to the music than to the theatrics of Miss Fuller. 2""La Tragédie de Salomé' par Florent Schmitt," La Revue Musicale (January 15, 1911), p. 42. 3 Inghelbrecht, Mouvement Contraire, p. 241. 183 On January 8, 1911, a premiere of the large orchestra version took place at Concerts Colonne under the baton of Gabriel Pierné. The following year, a solo dance version was performed by Mlle. Natacha Trouhanova on a program entitled "Concerts de danse Trouhanova" at the Théétre du Chételet. In addition to Salomé, this concert included Esta; by d'Indy, Adélaide ou le langage des fleurs by Ravel, and La Peri by Dukas. Each work was conducted by its composer. In 1913 Salomé was included in the repertoire of the Ballet Russe of Serge Diaghilev. This season also saw the presentation of igux by Debussy and the first performance of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps by Diaghilev's troup. Like the more famous ballets of this season, Salomé was unsuccessful. The ballet evoked no reaction from the audience at all.4 The set designs were done by Sergei Soudeikine and the choreographer was a young dancer from Moscow named Boris Romanov. Apart from a few character actors the performance was a solo dance for Tamara Karsavina as Salomé. Richard Buckle, an important ballet critic and author, observed that Karsavina made an impressive entrance down a staircase, with a glittering train unfolding behind her, then moved in a trance-like way as if...she were not so much dancing as reliving in Hell her dance before Herod as an expiation of her crime. Tamara wore long, false eyelashes 4Serge Lifar, Serge Diaghilev His Life, His Work, His Legend (New York: Putnam‘s Sons, 1940), p. 206. 184 (an adornment she claimed to have invented); her breasts, covered by the filmiest gauze, appeared almost bare; and a rose on her bare knee was painted afresh at every performance. Stravinsky, who had arrived in Paris in 1910, was very enthusiastic about the work. He wrote to Schmitt on February 2, 1912, saying: When is your brilliant Salome going to appear so that I can spend many Happy hours playing it constantly from beginning to end to distraction? I must admit that it is the greatest joy that a work of art has given to me in a long time. And that is without flattery! Believe me! I am proud to have it dedicated to me. In my last short trip to Paris (that happened again in November), I attracted Diaghilev's attention to %t and communicated to him all my ecstacy. Stravinsky sent Schmitt a postcard on February 24, of the same year saying, "I have received your admirable Salomé which I then began to play. Lord! How beautiful it is! It is one of the greatest masterpieces of modern music."7 5Richard Buckle, Diaghilev (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1979), p. 256. 6PN a 1.7 Bibliothéque Nationale "Quand est—ce que votre génIEle Salomé paraitra pour que je puisse passer des heureuses heures en la jouant sans cesse d'un bout a l'autre a la folie. Je doi avouer que c'est la plus grande joie qu'une oeuvre d'art m'a causé il y a deja longtemps. Et c'est sans flatterie! Croyez-moi! Je suis fier qu'elle m'est dédiée. Dans mon dernier court passage 5 Paris (ce qui avez lieu encore au mois de Nov.) j'en ai attiré l'attention de Diaghilew en lui communiquant tout mon extase." 7 PN a 1.8 Bibliothéque Nationale "J'ai bien recei votre admifable Salomé, que je me mis a jouer ensuite. Dieu! Que c'est beau! C'est un de plus grand chef d'oeuvres de la musique moderne." 185 It was probably through Stravinsky's intercession that Salomé was programmed by Diaghilev. Richard Buckle asked Stravinsky in 1969 whether he still had the same high opinion of the work, and if Diaghilev had been persuaded to program it. Stravinsky answered that since Schmitt was an important critic in Paris the decision was a political one and he added, "it's terrible music."8 The close friendship between the two composers was severed during World War I. Stravinsky never offered any explanation of his radical change of opinion. The lurid scenario by Robert d'Humiéres is quite different from Oscar Wilde's more famous version. Both poems are based on the same Biblical episode (Matthew 14:3-11). In Wilde's version, Salomé's sensual eroticism is transformed into perversion. D'Humiéres' scenario, however, dwells on the fantastic atmosphere of horror which surrounds and often engulfs the characters. Flaubert's Herodias, on which Massenet's opera Hérodiade is very loosely based, recounts the same passage from Herod's point of view.9 It exhalts Salome's love for John the Baptist. Her sensuality is treated with great restraint while the estranged relationship of Herod and his wife is explored in detail. Appendix I contains the 8Vera Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Stravinsky in Pictures, p. 82. 9Gustave Flaubert, Correspondance, VII (Paris: Conard, 1926—1933), pp. 296, 309. 186 original French text that is printed in the 1913 Durand score. My translation of that text is given below. 187 THE TRAGEDY 0F SALOME I PRELUDE A terrace of Herod's palace overlooking the Dead Sea. The mountains of Moab rule the horizon, rose and reddish- brown, dominated by the mass of Mount Nebo, from whence Moses, at the entrance of the Promised Land, greeted Canaan before his death. The sun is setting. DANCE OF PEARLS Torches light the scene. Their flames draw forth sparks of light from the fabrics and jewels which spill out of a precious coffer. Herodias, pensive, plunges her hands into them, then lifts up necklaces and veils of gold lamé. Salomé, as if fascinated, appears, leans over, adorns herself, and then, with a childish joy, begins her first dance. II ENCHANTMENTS ON THE SEA Salomé has disappeared. Darkness envelops Herod who is lost in thoughts of lust and fear while Herodias, always vigilant, watches him carefully. Then, on the Damned Sea mysterious lights flicker, seemingly born from the depths. The architectural forms of engulfed Pentapole are reflected in confusion on the waves. One could say that the old crimes recognize and invite Salomé as a fraternal spirit. It is as a projection on a magic mirror of the drama which is enacted in the minds of the mute couple seated there in the night. The music comments on the demoniacal phantasmagéria. Some fragments of old orgiastic chant, smothered by a shower of asphalt and Cinders on the terraces of Sodom and Gomorrah, pour forth confusedly. Some brief measures of dance, the shudder of muted cymbals, some clapping of hands, sighs, an insane laugh which bursts out. 188 Then a solitary voice floats upward from the depths of the Dead Sea, soaring over the abyss's of the Past, of the Wilderness, of Lust. Herod, overcome, listens. Now vapors rise from the sea, take form, arise from the abyss, a living mist from which suddenly enlaced forms stand out. Then suddenly, as though born of a troubled dream and ancient sins, Salomé, irresistible, rises. A distant thunderclap rolls through the skies. Salomé begins to dance. Herod gets up. DANCE OF LIGHTNING Total darkness has invaded the scene and the remainder of the drama is illuminated only by flashes of lightning. It is the lascivious dance, the pursuit of Herod, the amorous evasion, Salomé possessed, her veils torn away by the hand of Tetrarch...She is naked for an instant, but John suddenly appears, and comes forward to cover her with his hermit's cloak. Gestures of fury from Herod, quickly interpreted by Herodias, from whom a signal delivers John to the executioner who drags him off and soon reappears [holding the head on a platter.] Loaded on the naked shoulder of the executioner, the great plate of gold heaves under its weight. The crossed swords raise the head, a promise which has been forever silenced. Salomé, triumphant, seizes the trophy, takes a step, overloaded by her funereal burden. Then, as if touched by a sudden uneasiness, as if the voice of the executed one had murmured in her ear, she runs immediately to the edge of the terrace, and hurls the platter over the battlement into the sea. Suddenly the sea turns the color of blood, and while bewildered terror sweeps Herod, Herodias, and the executioner in maddened flight, Salomé throws herself to the ground, unconscious. Salomé regains consciousness. The head of John having appeared, stares at her, then disappears. Salomé trembles and turns away. The head, from another part of the stage, gazes at her anew. Salomé wishes to steal away. Heads multiply, rising from everywhere. Terror—stricken, Salomé whirls around in order to escape the bloody visions. 189 DANCE OF TERROR As she dances, the storm bursts. A furious wind envelops her. Sulphurous clouds roll over the precipice; a hurricane rocks the sea. Waterspouts of sand erupt from the desert solitudes. The tall cypresses are tragically twisted and they break with a loud noise. Thunder and lightning burst forth, making the stones of the citadel fly about. Mount Nebo throws off flames and the entire range of Moab is aglow with fire. Everything collapses upon the dancer who is carried off by an infernal delirium. La Tragédie de Salomé is one of Schmitt's most dramatic scores. It closely follows Robert d'Humiéres' prose but, like Psaume XLVII before it, the work is never overtly descriptive of the text. Rather, the music captures the general sentiments and mood of the text. Individual references to specific details of the plot rarely are found in the score. La Tragédie de Salomé is divided into two movements, which are separated by a break. The first movement contains two sections: a slow "Prélude" in 2 meter and the "Danse des perles" in fast a meter. The second movement consists of a short introduction in duple meter followed by "Les Enchantements sur la mer" in slow 2 meter, "Danse des éclairs" which begins in 3?, and ”Danse de l'effroi" in 2 meter. The connection between the "Prélude" and "Les Enchantements sur la mer" extends beyond metrical similarity. "Les Enchantements sur la mer" is the same tempo as the "Prélude" (it is marked "Mouvt du Prélude"), and it contains a large section of music from the "Prélude," which recapitulates all the themes and much of the middle section 190 of the earlier music. The two dances of the second movement provide a strong contrast to the "Danse des perles" of the first movement, and no other recapitulated material is found in the work. The "Prélude" is in a three-part arch form. It opens with a stepwise motive in the basses and 'celli ("x"). A three-note rising motive ("y") leads to the first theme ("A") presented by the English horn in measures 10 through 16. This theme is repeated and imitated by the clarinet and oboe. The middle section of the "Prelude" (mm. 28-79) contains a new theme ("B"), which is related to the first theme and the three-note motive of the beginning. The new melody and its accompaniment are repeated. Following two announcements of the first theme, that mark the climax of the movement, the section closes with the same material that is found at the end of the first section ("2"). Although the third section begins with a combination of an abbreviated version of the first and second themes, the first theme returns alone and is followed by the motive which preceded it. Figure 3-1 I O . A . . x §A A z B B A A A z B A x x y 2 IO 19 27 29 39 53 62 70 78 82 94 101103107 191 In this manner, the "Prélude" is seen as a free arch form. While the second half of the movement is not a strict retrograde of the first, the order of thematic presentation is reversed. The "Prélude" ends with the stepwise motive with which it began. The "Danse des perles" is a five-part dance that introduces three melodies. The initial section presents the first of these themes ("C") in the basses, 'celli, harp, and bassoons (m. 110). The theme is organized in short melodic cells which provide material for extensive development. The second section, in measure 186, contains the other two themes of this dance. The second theme ("D") is stated first, and upon its repetition, the third theme ("E") is combined with it. The third theme is used only in conjunction with the second. In measure 282, the third section recalls the first section of the dance. It concludes with a fragmented version of the first theme in the same way the first section did. Figure 3-2 0 0' 13gb c c' D EC‘ 0‘ 110 174 132 202 225 232 340 355 380 (+55 (088 192 The fourth section, from measure 356, is rhythmically the most complex. It restates the second and third themes. Near the end of the section, the first part of the first theme makes a brief appearance. The final section, in measure 488, is marked "Trés vif." It uses the same motive that ended the fourth section. The melodic similarities of the five sections of the dance can be structured into a free, traditional rondo form: ABABA. The second movement of the work is grouped into three major sections: "Les Enchantements sur la mer," "Danse des éclairs," and "Danse de l'effroi." The first section begins in measure 529 and is preceded by a slow introduction, which modulates from Bb major, of the first movement, to B major at the beginning of "Les Enchantements sur la mer." This introduction makes use of a three—measure motive (”r") that provides the basic material for extensive development later in the movement. After this seventeen-bar introduction, the first major section of this movement opens with a simple triadic melody ("F") in the muted horns over a B-major-ninth chord in the strings. The melody and accompaniment figure from the middle section of the "Prelude" are then restated in measure 556. It is preceded by the same transition material ("z") that was used in the "Prelude." The horn melody reappears, and, in measure 572, the stepwise bass motive ("x"), 193 which opened the first movement, is quoted. This part of the section concludes with a passage that combines the horn theme ("F"), a motive (Wx"") derived from the "Prélude," and parts of the three-measure motive ("r") from the introduction of the second movement. Figure 3-3 I r F 2’ B x' A szr x G G G G' s 529 548 551 556 571 586 594-611 612 618 640 656 670 679 The second half of "Les Enchantements sur la mer" begins in measure 618. It quotes an Eastern folk song that was recorded on the banks of the Dead Sea by Salvator Peitavi. The folk song (marked "0") is sung first by a solo soprano and then by a small women's choir in unison. Both performances are offstage and without text. It is then repeated in triadic vocal harmony with orchestral support. The third measure of the folk song provides the material for an ostinato ("s”), which leads to the "Danse des éclairs." The "Danse des éclairs" is also in two major divisions. The first part (m. 687) presents a melody that is derived from the preceding folk song ostinato ("s"). The a? 4 meter alternates with 4 and 2 meters. Syncopated, full- orchestra chords accentuate the violent theme of the higher 194 woodwinds and muted trumpet. This theme is alternated with the horn theme ("F") of "Les Enchantements sur la mer." Figure 3-4 s F s s F s F s F t r' t 687 689 691 701 703 705 707 709 719 724 727 732 This section is interrupted by the second division of the dance, which opens with low brass chords ("t") at pianissimo in measure 724. Music from the introduction of this movement is alternated with accented, sixteenth-note runs in the woodwinds and strings. The section builds to a climax in measure 756 where a series of unrelated brass chords leads to the final dance of the work. The "Danse de l'effroi," in measure 760, is marked Agimé and is in.2 meter. Heavily accented rhythms, rising, octatonic melodies, and biting dissonances ("u") create a mood that accurately reflects d'Humiéres' prose. A rising 1ydian scale provides the basis for a new motive ("v") in measure 764. In measure 782, the horn melody from the beginning of the movement is treated in imitation. A new motive, comprised of the tonic, leading tone, and third scale degrees of E minor ("w") is added to the dance. This motive is combined with a similar figure ("w’") to create a 195 polyrhythmic passage in measure 786. A rising figure, which is comprised of the E—minor motive, leads to the final E—minor cadence. Figure 3-5 vvuvv'uv'uv'uu'Fww'w" 760 764 766 768 770 772 773 775 776 777 779 782 785 790 These formal divisions are supported by the rhythmic characteristics and the harmonic content. While most of the melodies contain a version of motive "x" from the opening bars of the work, Schmitt separates and individualizes the melodies by rhythmic means. As with Psalm 47, tonal centers play a very important role in the delineation of the formal divisions. The rhythmic characteristics of the melodies are discussed in the analysis of melody. Tonal relationships are summarized at the beginning of the harmonic analysis. 196 Melody The most salient features of the melodies in La Tragédie de Salomé are their continuity through motivic unity, their inventive and varied rhythmic and melodic patterns, their intense, expressive energy, and the ease with which they can be modified. With the exception of the melodic material from "Danse des éclairs" and "Danse de l'effroi," the themes in Salomé generally are longer and more lyric than those of Psalm 47. Often they are irregular in length and are comprised of asymmetrical phrases. Motivic construction is evident in nearly every theme in Salomé, and it is by this device that continuity throughout the work is achieved. The motives are short--at times only two notes-- and supplied with highly distinctive rhythms that assure easy identification. Salomé contains more complex rhythms than Psalm 47, and the interaction of melodic rhythm, accompaniment, and meter is often innovative. At least four themes include augmented intervals, which reflect the music of the Near East where the action of the drama takes place. The music of this region is represented literally by a folk song transcribed on the shores of the Dead Sea. Symmetrical scales, including the whole-tone and octatonic scales, and modal scales are found in several of the melodies and passages of the score. 197 Their contribution to the dilution of traditional, harmonic structures is considerable. Examination of symmetrical pitch collections and modes in connection with the symmetrical chords they generate is reserved for the section on harmony. As with Psalm 47, Schmitt rarely repeats a section or theme exactly. The restatement usually will be rescored, reharmonized, or altered in length. The most noticeable characteristic of the work is the extreme power of some of the melodies, especially from the "Danse des éclairs" and "Danse de l'effroi." Schmitt's expressive use of melody and motive, rhythm, and orchestration surpasses his achievements along these lines in his earlier scores. It is this abundance of vigor and full sound that contributed significantly to the early popularity of this work and to its position as his premiere chef-d'oeuvre. This section is concerned with an examination of the most important melodies from Salomé. The analysis is aimed at illucidating the support of or divergence from the general melodic traits listed in these introductory paragraphs. 198 The motive that opens the "Prélude" is given in Figure 3—6. Figure 3-6 Lent 1 para sf fvi if ewe/iv- iv“- ! p00!) .if h UV U\- _/ y. It is comprised of long notes played by the low strings which fall and then rise by a semitone. A thirty-second—note ornament precedes the movement to the long notes. Encompassing only three bars, this stepwise ornament (E4J—fi4) acts as a generative rhythmic and melodic cell to nearly every other melody in the work. In its original version, the alternation of the long notes occurs on the strong beats of the measure. Thus, the compound triple meter is established from the first measure. The horn chords also define the metrical structure of the passage by changing on the strong beats. The motive, marked "x" in Figure 3-6, appears in the 199 descending form first ("x1"). In the second measure, it is in an inverted or ascending form ("x2"), and a sixteenth-note variation of the descending version, one that involves a whole step in place of the semitone movement, follows in measure 3 ("xl'"). It is the distinctive rhythm and prominent placement that makes the motive easily identifiable and lends to it a character that warrants the important position it holds in the work. The "x" motive often is found in connection with a harmonic pattern or in a melodic sequence, rather than as an integral part of a melody. A large portion of "Les Enchantements sur la mer" reiterates material from the "Prelude," and, in measures 594-595, a variation of the "x" motive is found in a harmonic progression that is a palindrome (fig. 3-7). Figure 3-7 5 Although the pitch pattern (rising whole step, falling whole step, and rising major third) of the motive in this music is not the same as the original appearance of it in 200 the first movement, their identical rhythms connect the two passages. A more dramatic use of this motive leads to the middle section of the "Prelude" (fig. 3-8). Figure 3-8 I A SWE/ s = \ ”I. . 3E .. J) 552 Sauna u pen In this passage, the "x1" motive is sequenced and slightly altered with leaps of a third replacing the stepwise movement of the original appearance (m. 550). However, in the final two measures of Figure 3-8, the "x1" motive is used in a descending, whole—tone scale played by the flutes. This scale is accompanied by whole-tone dominant chords in the harps that ascend from D to C by whole steps. The passage modulates from D major to C major in measure 554. In much the same way that the symmetrical scales weaken the tonality, the rhythm negates the barline. In measures 551—553, the ascending whole—tone dominant chords are grouped 201 in a 3 + 2 + 2 pattern within the 2 meter. The downbeat of measure 552 is completely obscured. This creates a transition from an energetic section (the opening of "Les Enchantements sur la mer") to a calmer one (the reprise of "Prélude" material) using the important "x1" motive and offers a written out ritard as well as a decrease in tempo. The low string theme from the "Prelude" (fig. 3-6) recurs at various places in the score, but always in a modified form. The passage preceding the folk song in "Les Enchantements sur la mer," for example, contains an exact transposition of the theme a tritone (plus several octaves) higher (fig. 3-9). Figure 3-9 > If . “\ 590 ’3): F fig: a; :,..._r \\ 202 Figure 3-9 (continued) 5va~ 2 c»—t I x 593 2 Accélénz J-uJ price'd. The melody is performed by the upper woodwinds and high strings. However, an additional motive, the inversion of "xl’" 'Tfi::Z;;g*r) marked "xz’" because of its similarity to "x2," curtails the final long note and leads to the palindrome progression examined above (fig. 3—7). Stated at fortissimo and accompanied by full orchestra, this statement 203 is radically different in terms of its expressive power from the first version. The pianissimo horn chords that accompany the theme in the "Prélude" (fig. 3-6) are reduced to octaves, ascending mainly in whole tones, in the bass clarinet, bassoon, sarrusophone, 'celli, and basses. Accented and at fortissimo, the low strings are asked for enough sound to tear out the string (en arrachant la corde). Also notable in this example, is the raised fourth degree in the scale on A leading to measure 590. This scale resembles a 1ydian scale with a lowered seventh, a scale that is common in Psalm 47 and one that is similar to the whole-tone scale.10 The two main melodies of the "Prélude" are derived from the opening theme. The first main melody of the "Prélude" begins in measure 10 on G, the same pitch as the first theme. The first measure is practically identical to the beginning of the opening theme (fig. 3—10). Figure 3-10 mm: me'lancolie 10 <1 3 12 10To become a wholg-tone scale, this scale requires an E# instead of the E9 and F it contains. 204 The melody, which is written for the solo English horn and accompanying strings, begins with a two-note anacrusis. The G is tied over the barline, and the second half of the melody in measure 13 also begins on a syncopated note. The final feminine cadence also suggests a displaced downbeat. The melody contrasts with a quarter—note string accompaniment and the regular harmonic changes that only occur on the strong beats of the measure. The seven-measure melody is divided into two sections of unequal length. The second section, in measures 13-16, contains one more measure than the first. Thus, the bar ratio-pattern is 3:4. The similarity of the last beat of measure 14 and measure 15 suggests the use of the final bar as an extension. Both phrases of the melody have an arch contour that states the highest note near the middle of the phrase, and both include the "x" motive from the initial theme (Jaym) or its derivation (LRVlSm-L). The alternation between G and F in the long notes of F# this melody is similar to the alternation of G and in the long notes of the first theme (cf. fig. 3-6). The first phrase begins in the phrygian mode on C, while the second half loosely imitates the second full measure of the first half in F phrygian. The introduction, in both phrases, of non—modal notes (A-natural in measure 11, and G-natural in measure 14) disrupts the modal patterns and adds to the melodic ambiguity of the theme. The use of the "x" motive, however, is the most 205 distinctive melodic and rhythmic characteristic, and the close proximity of the melody to the opening theme (9 measures removed) strengthens this association. The same tempo and dynamic markings and a similar expressive mood (avec mélancolie) support the motivic continuity of both themes. An English horn melody is found in several places in the "Prélude," and, as is the case with the rest of the melodic material of the "Prélude," it reappears in "Les Enchantements sur la mer" in the second movement. Performed by the solo clarinet over harp arpeggios and string tremolos, the intervals of the melody are altered (fig. 3’11). 206 Figure 3—11 In measure 585, the melodic structure diverges from the original melody in several places: G# (beat three), G (beat four), and FH (beat five). Furthermore, the first note 207 of the next bar is a third above its expected position, while the "x1'” an "xz’" motives, from the first theme of the "Prelude," replace the "x1" and "x2" motives. Bars 588 and 589 show a preoccupation with the stepwise triplet figures, particularly the descending form. It is stated in the woodwinds and imitated at the octave by trombones and horns. Imitation in augmented values follows in the low woodwinds, brass, and strings. The reprise of the initial theme of the "Prelude" follows in measure 590 (see fig. 3-9). The last important melody of the "Prélude" is a long melody that also contains the "x" motive from the beginning of the movement (fig. 3-12). Figure 3-12 AFL «TC H. ._- 1 AI 1‘] ...JJ 1) ! "Hf-4 \ It is similar to the English horn melody in that it is stepwise and each phrase begins on a weak beat. The second phrase repeats the first exactly. The third phrase is modulated up a whole tone and sequentially extended. The bar ratio—pattern of the passage is 2 + 2 + 3. The first two phrases conclude on weak beats, but the final cadence is on 208 the downbeat of measure 37. Each phrase is in arch form, and the loudest part of the melody, measures 34—35, is doubled in the clarinet. The melody is written in the 1ydian mode on E (and F in the third phrase), while the harmony is in A major. Motivic continuity is achieved here, and in all the themes of the "Prélude," through the consistent use of the "x" motive or derivations of it. It appears in all three phrases of this melody and comprises the extended portion of the last section of the melody. This melody is the longest of the three "Prelude" themes and contains the widest range. While the lyric English horn melody is comprised of an evolving form with triplet figures reaching farther and farther away from the held notes, the last melody is a simple arched statement given three times. Thus, although it is more active and is performed at a slightly faster tempo (Animez un peu), there is not the same degree of tension between the phrases as there is in the earlier melody. For the first time, the "x1" motive itself occurs on a strong beat rather than just prior to it. The melody starts on the fifth beat of the measure and ends on the third. Except for the single half note which falls on the first beat of the measure, the barline is obscured, as it was in the English horn melody. Neither is there strong indication from the accompaniment of the notated metrical division (fig. 3-13). 209 Figure 3—13 Comprised of quarter-note horn chords overlapping similar displaced chords in the harps, the accompaniment further obfuscates the barline. This rhythmic complexity, found in all but the first theme of the "Prélude," lends a vague, unsettling quality to the music which sets the scene for the fantastic action that follows. In Salomé, this accompaniment figure (fig. 3-13) is an excellent example of a motive that is well—suited to modification. In measures 28—29, the first appearance of this overlapping stepwise motive in A major is diatonic (fig. 3—14a). 210 Figure 3-14 3-14a 28 Animez un peu 3—14b 211 The motive recurs in measures 37-38 (fig. 3-14b). It is also in A major, and, while the first measure is diatonic, the second measure contains whole-tone chords, which are produced by lowering all the B naturals to B flats. The version of this motive in measures 95-96 (fig. 3-14c) is in the key of F major. Apart from radical chromatic alterations, the bass movement is different in interval and contour, and the rhythm is arranged in a more compact, overlapping pattern. Placement within the phrase and a similar orchestration maintain the relationship between the widely differing versions of the motive. The themes of the "Danse des perles" are notable for their motivic construction, their expressive energy, and, in direct contrast to the "Prélude," an invariable, regular, classical phrase structure. The first melody opens the dance (fig. 3-15). It consists of three four-bar phrases. The first phrase descends chromatically from F (in m. 111) to D (in m. 114). The first three notes outline a B-diminished triad, which contains the tritone B-F. Further examination of the harmonic and tonal qualities of the work will illustrate the structural importance of this interval. Its placement at the Opening of the first dance confirms its prominence as a melodic interval. 212 Figure 3—15 Asses vi! [a 117 . A . A row true. The second phrase restates the first at the same pitch but with an altered last half, which replaces the triple design with the duple pattern of two eighth notes, appearing three times (marked "c" in mm. 116-118).- The last phrase reproduces the first two measures of the theme up a semitone and, in the last two bars, up another semitone, bringing # about a modulation to F and an altered repeat of the entire theme (mm. 122-138). Intervallic connection in a rhythm similar to the "x" motive of the "Prélude" is found in the second measure of each four-bar phrase (TL—fl- similar rhythm, and its position near the beginning of the r“). The same contour, a melody link this motive as well as this theme to the melodies of the "Prélude." The motive's distinctive rhythm makes it very prominent in the dance. It also occurs quite frequently, appearing in nearly 20 per cent of the measures oi sh Be 213 of the dance. The main theme of the "Danse des perles" is shared between three groups of instruments. The basses and 'celli play the first three notes of the theme pizzicato. Bassoons then present the next three notes while the harp plays staccato eighth-note octaves on the downbeat of each measure (fig. 3-16). Figure 3—16 This orchestration stresses the chromatic descent by doubling the harp line first in the low strings (m. 111) and later (mm. 112—114) in the bassoons. Subsequent repetition of the theme is always modified, extended, or developed. The melody is the source material for several motives that recur throughout the dance. The first six notes of the dance constitute the most important motive ( , labeled motive "a"). It is the generative motive for most of the rest of the motivic 214 activity of the dance, and its similarity unites the dance and "Prélude" most conclusively. For example, the second motive ( , labeled motive "b") consists of a rising minor third and a falling semitone. Thus, it comprises the first and last interval of the "a" motive, and never appears except in connection with it. Variations of this motive ( E or W, labeled b"and b"), comprise extended sections of music that are capable of a rapid increase in the expressive power (fig. 3—17). Figure 3-17 130 The third motive also appears in the main theme ( % labeled "c" motive). It is a foreshortened version of the "b" motive and is also connected to the "a" motive. Repetition of the "c" motive provides the duple pattern in the theme (mm. 116-117) and later in the movement. Finally, a repeated eighth—note motive ( E , labeled motive "d"), is found in the full orchestral passages. It always retains the shape of the "x1" motive with three eighth notes on each pitch ( 215 Of the five sections in the dance, the first, third, and last sections use these motives in addition to the main theme. The even—numbered sections present two new melodies that also are related to the main theme of the dance (fig. 3-18). Figure 3-18 r , <8 These themes are symmetrical, eight-bar melodies. The horn melody is similar to the main theme of the dance in shape and content, and it contains a measure of duple rhythm. The first four notes retain the contour of the first notes of the "x1" motive ( Efi ) from the "Prelude." The sixth measure is related to the "a" motive from the first dance theme. The violin theme introduces new duple elements in the second and seventh bars, and, with the horn melody and the duplet in the last bar, it supplies a refreshing diversion from the motivic construction of the odd-numbered sections and from the incessant triple meter of the dance. The violin melody in Figure 3-18 represents a contrast in the use of 216 duple elements. It is similar to the horn theme in the first, third, and last measures especially. The fourth section of the dance contains the horn theme of measure 186 in the second violins and a new countermelody in the horn. Agogic accents fall on beat two of the violin theme and on beat three in the horn melody. The harps supply a duple accompaniment, which is derived from the third theme of the dance (fig. 3—19). Figure 3-19 This passage illustrates the rhythmic diversity of the score. The indications to the harpist to play the bass note a little less marked and short on the downbeat underscores the relative importance of the second and third beats. The passage offers relief from the strong downbeat while supplying refreshing new material. Agogic accent and four against three are the main constituents of this passage. Near the end of the first movement, Schmitt combines the duple rhythmic figure ( f-l ), from the end of the second and third themes of the dance, with the "c" motive from the 217 first theme. Repetition of the "c" motive places three groups of a two-note falling interval over the space of two measures. This subtle hemiola creates a different duple effect from the duple rhythm in the bass and brass instruments. It also retains a triple feeling which contrasts with the duple rhythm (fig. 3-20). Figure 3—20 404 :m m... a=_ ééaéaa _: 4... ==.—.-_ _________ _;=—;!_!!_Q__ ‘ === =——==4==n—’ ----- r=h— =EEEEEEEEEEEE'——-—--—=——" MMQW—- !—I==_=l—!_—,-__-__==l—! ‘l. =—=:-—' _-—=—ui'Eg:1=—=- ===§§ug=§——= —====" ="— _;_ Imitation is rare in the dance. One example, however, involves the final theme of the dance performed by the solo oboe from measure 218. It is imitated by the violins two measures later. As is often the case in 218 Schmitt's works, the imitation starts as an exact duplication (an octave higher, in this case) and becomes very free after the first few measures (fig. 3—21). Figure 3-21 Cu. A ._.-._-. .- -_— _— _- —_——— _____ ‘ ——-—-——-— := .__= It is evident from the above examples that the dance is based on motivic reiteration. Figure 3—22 is a chart of the motives (numbered before the chart), themes, phrase structure, measure numbers, and keys of the dance. 219 Figure 3-22 220 Figure 3—22 (continued) SectimAl. . 3. 11. Neasurello 111. 118 122 126 130 138 11.2 11.6 150 162 170 171. 182 Votive I) a _bb a £5.61; a a bb a a b/P/EEE/EEPQF‘LEW a a: a bbé a a a”a a mbb _b_b :b_,/beb dddd'aa’a’a’a’a’a’fia’ia’i 1. ' 1. 1. 11 1. I 1. ' 8 1. 1. 1. 12 8 1. 12 # 16# 7 21. 12 12 7 b 1‘ F 7 D 13b? ~ C 7 Key "‘ ___ g- /Fpedall ’leedal F F SectionBl 2. 3. 11. Nbaswe 186 190 191. 198 202 206 210 211. 218 222 226 230 231. 21.2 21.6 250 251. 258 262 266 270 271. 278 thive I II I I I I l______ I l n I 1. 1. ' 1. 1. " 1. 1. ' 1. 1. ' 1. 1. " 1. ' 1. ' 8 1. 1. 1. ' 1. 1. ‘ 1. 1. " 1. 1. g 16 21. 1.1. 12 Key B_b 13+ .13: f i a Sectim Cl. 2. 3. 11. Measure 282 286 290 302 306 310 316 321. 328 332 336 31.0 31.1. 31.8 thive bba a abb a a a aa abb accca a ab’b’b'b’b’b/b’b'lddddlda"bblgdddlddddaaiaffifiiigfg’fa Hump—1. _‘1—lg""_12'_“+—1." 1." 6 _4 8 ' 1. ' 1. ' 1. ' 1. 1. 1. 8 7' 20 22 # 16 #7 16 # b7 ~ ~ c F Key 8' G ’17peda1 SectionDl. 2. 3- Measure 356 361. 372 380 388 396 1.01. 1.12 1.20 1.21. 1.28 Votive . 1 1 ' ,. . ,a bblabb abba_bb Pruase ll 1. 1. ' 1. 1. ' 1. 1. ' 1. 1. ' 8 ' 1. 1. ' 8 ' 1. 1. 1. ' 1. 1. 1. 1. 7“ 21. 21. 36 Key 13b 13: 13.". c” at: at: SectionD4. 5. 1618. 1.2. 3. Measumaao 1.1.1. 1.1.8 1.61. 1.80 1.81. 501. 508 512 520 521. thive a 1:66 a a b’Wb 611";de d d d a b blaa a: m: {Ma .12 a‘d _‘jaaZafin _4’118 dddd a ‘6 ba {effa‘a’a’a‘a'ffafi’ff‘a‘a‘d‘a‘a‘ *Mgza’a‘gaea ‘1“ ——-1~—-—+— —————————————————————————————————————————————— Pmase ”_— 1. 1. 8 8 8 I. 32 8 8 16 Key _Q D7 B117 Db - ~ ~ 85 8" A 09 i [Eblwb] E 221 In general, the themes of the second movement are more energetic and reflect d'Humiéres' scenario more closely than the first movement melodies. The phrase, "some fragments of old orgiastic chant" in "Les Enchantements sur la mer," is represented literally by the folk song, which Schmitt obtained from Salvator Peitavi, who notated it from a performance on the shores of the Dead Sea, according to the composer's note in the score. Just as the other melodies of Salomé are motivically composed, this folk song is composed of motivic fragments as the prose suggests. The "solitary voice (that) floats upward from the depths of the Dead Sea" comes alive in the first statement of the folk song by a single offstage female voice without text (fig. 3—23). Figure 3-23 618 > ___ >....—— {_g'rmtmf- .. ' .___ ..-._ ...__.. V... 5.12.: O J -- ‘7 ~» “fl b 1 1 2 3 1. 5 6 629 - a": law“: 12 13 11. 222 As shown in Figure 3-23, the first six measures supply the basic material for the melody. Measures 7—9 repeat measures 2-4. A restatement of measures 3 and 5 is followed by a partial repeat of measure 3. The tonality is G minor. The third scale degree (Bb) alternates with BH in measures 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12. This vacillation between the third scale degrees of the minor and major mode, and the highly motivic construction of the melody conveys a strong, exotic character to the melody. Asymmetrical phrasing within the melody (2 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 2) and a limited range of a perfect fifth also contribute to the exotic nature. Following an abbreviated orchestral repetition, two voices with orchestral accompaniment perform an evolving version of the theme (fig. 3-24). Figure 3—24 I. p (0 Jun) Helene: 223 Figure 3-24 (continued) on». Acoélére: légérenent AGE; 931A 651 r——1r--fi1-—3-1 (“"‘l'—| “_fi Aeoélérex davan All, lO—jl 11-—\ r—lzfir—‘lB—fir—M—H—IS— I in re 19 llufluu GSE—Wr—m “pr—17 -—1r— 18 7—3 A fi‘ 20 224 The semitone oscillation of the third scale degree is maintained, and an augmented second (G-A#) is introduced. Augmented intervals heighten the effect of the Near Eastern folk song and, as in Psalm 47, enhance the exotic flavor that is called for by the text. Motives from the initial statement are retained and elaborated in this evolving (and seemingly newly-composed) version. For instance, the sixteenth-note descending figure ( ) from measure 641 retains the shape and rhythm, but not the exact interval content, of the last half of the third measure of the folk song (cf. m. 620, fig. 3-23). This figure resembles the "x1" motive of the first movement just as the ascending figure from the first half of bar 620 recalls the "x2" motive. The first and sixth bars of the initial folk song statement (mm. 618 and 623) also show a similarity in rhythm and shape to the "x1" motive. Thus, eight of the thirteen measures of the folk song are related to the "x" motive, and, in the extended version, given in Figure 3-24, this relationship is maintained. The descending sixteenth-note figure recurs in measures 642 and 646 through 650, and from bar 651-657 it forms the basis of a 20-stage sequence (marked with brackets in fig. 3—24). In Stage 5 through Stage 11 of the sequence, the figure is extended to include five notes in the space of one beat. From Stage 12 to 16, the four—note pattern occurs within the quintuple rhythmic design. Following two original four-note figures (Stages 17 and 18), 225 the rhythmic values are augmented to triplet figures. Observation of the first note of each stage reveals a harmonic design that outlines a descending dominant-seventh chord on E, the parallel major key of the work (fig. 3-25). Figure 3—25 Stage 1 2 3 1 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 11 15 16 17 18 19 20 Vocal 0 C# 8 A 6#—-6# F Orch. 0 0* 8 A r 0-—-0 8b Ab r 9, 8 6# g 0 B 6# g 0 8 6# The notes of the chord are found in six of the first ten stages, and, of the non—chord tones, only C# (Stage 2) is not a semitone removed from a chord tone. F and Bb, notes that carry structural significance in the harmonic design of the work, occur in four of the first ten stages. The folk song provides the basic material for most of the melodic material of the second movement just as the themes of the first movement are motivically derived, in part, from the first theme and the "x" motive. In the first measures of "Les Enchantements sur la mer," three muted horns present a theme of three notes in the rhythm of the folk song's first bar (fig. 3—26). 226 Figure 3-26 m l'um‘l'm I. u u. 546 - IJI pull .0!” loll (Infla- mu.) .0 II" M >\V_/ V 3‘ l on Mon Infill! A 5 . E ’ w, j I - w 8 ' V V V1.0 C'est-Illa MI. "_ m. g ”I u ' k ah I ‘. € 5 '" "”‘“" I I V ] crum- ”- 1. m g u w. . ‘ A . .111...- p It’- [In pen loll“ hull (Io-II ‘- Pro'luo) K“ DOV. ”< t K“ Dtv ' .3 1 A if > >— h ”1'. A n > ‘ i 7 This section of music corresponds to the mysterious, flickering lights on the Dead Sea portrayed in the muted string tremolos. The horn melody represents the confused reflection of "the architectural forms of the engulfed 11 Pentapole." In a work with such a lurid text, the frequent use of low strings and brass to portray the mysterious and 11Pentapolis, meaning five cities, refers to the territories of five cities probably located in the valley of Siddin now submerged by the southern part of the Dead Sea. Through Biblical references, these cities have come to symbolize the epitome of depravity. The five cities are: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar. 227 frightening aspects of the prose is not exceptional. The triangle trill, to be played as soft as possible, and the subtle use of cymbal, played with the handle of the bass drum stick in connection with the divisi strings and special horn effects, creates the atmosphere of suspense that the work is famous for. Over a static B9 and B13 9 string harmony, the horn melody consists of notes of the B chord. The rhythm, If}. , on the downbeat of the horn theme is identical to the opening rhythm of the folk song, and it recurs, slightly altered, as two sixteenth-notes and an eighth-note triplet in measure 549. In this way the entire rhythmic activity of this theme is related to the folk song melody. The motive occurs elsewhere in the score. It is found as an accented nonharmonic tone in the final bars of the "Prélude" in the English horn, clarinets, bass clarinet, and viola (fig. 3-27). Figure 3-27 Plus lent . De plus on 101 ‘5 to A L - 1.,- 228 Figure 3-27 (continued) 103 , ggiiill -' i), ’ -:: \ 4/ T 105 on 0: port"! A A5 The resemblance of the motive, here in descending, stepwise form, to the "x1" motive in the bassoons, sarrusophone, and low strings (mm. 106 and 108) is especially evident. In measure 101, it is combined with the "x1" motive in the second theme of the "Prélude" (see beat 3 and 4). The passage that ends the first section of "Les Enchantements sur la mer" (fig. 3—28) maintains a clear connection to the music from the end of the "Prelude" and to the folk song which follows it in measure 618. 229 Figure 3—28 Perhaps the most obvious example of motivic connection occurs in measures 687f, where the semitone movement from the third measure of the folk song is expanded into the principle theme of the "Dance des éclairs" and the ostinato of the transition which precedes it (fig. 3—29). Figure 3-29 579 Pulse: 5 230 Figure 3-29 (continued) aumrannnuums 687 " > ' . . '. The oscillating, semitone motive in the first measure of this melody (m. 687) is transposed a minor third higher than its original appearance in the folk song. It is paired immediately with a foreshortened version of the fourth bar of the folk song (last part of measure 687) and repeated in its entirety in bar 688. A transposed version, also up a minor third, of the first two measures of the folk song follows in the third and fourth bars of the dance (see mm. 689-690). This is imitated, briefly, on beat two of measure 689 and concluded with parallel, chromatic chords that outline the melodic activity in bar five of the folk song (m. 690). In this way, the folk song has supplied all of the melodic material of the first section of the dance. 231 The transition from the final repeat of the folk song to the "Danse des éclairs" is shown also in Figure 3-29 (mm. 679-686). The second four measures form an ostinato comprised of the folk song's third-measure material performed in octaves in the strings over a bass drum roll. The first four measures are a freely expanded, rising version of this material given in the low woodwinds and strings. Within these measures are eight intervals of an augmented second, which link it with the Near Eastern atmosphere of the text and the extended folk song (fig. 3-24). Schmitt's preference for asymmetrical and odd meters is extended to include 2?. Salomé was the first work to incorporate this meter, and its effective use in the "Danse des éclairs" attests to Schmitt's position as a rhythmic innovator. Not only was a? unorthodox in 1907, but Schmitt accentuates its asymmetry by contrasting it with more conservative meters. The beginning two measures of the "Danse des éclairs," in 3?, are followed by a 2 measure and a 2 measure (fig. 3-29). In measure 714, it is contrasted with g and 3 meters. The sensational effect of such a novel meter was not allowed to become tiresome for the audience. By writing short segments in the new meter, in direct contrast with conventional meters, Schmitt was able to sustain the exceptional effect of the passage and contribute to the climax of the work in an original way. 232 Intense expressive energy is characteristic of the melodies of the "Danse des éclairs." The climax of the dance in measure 719, which corresponds to the section of the text in which Salomé throws the head of John the Baptist into the sea and the sea turns blood red, contains one of the most expressive moments in the score (fig. 3-30). Figure 3—30 233 1131 1.: ll I llll llll lui IIII 234 The energy is attained on several levels. The low brass accented Eb7b9 chord and triplet is accompanied by a tremolo in the upper woodwinds and strings and cymbal crash. The folk song motive (”3,11 in the low woodwinds, bass trombone, tuba, and low strings, is accented on the third beat of both measures and punctuated by the bass drum. Beat four of both measures combines rhythms in the proportion 3 + 6 + 8 + 16 over a series of dissonant brass chords. The low woodwinds and low strings, at this point, contain an ascending octatonic scale (cf. Collection I, fig. 2-25). Two augmented seconds (Fb-G and Bb-C#) occur in the harp arpeggio. The rhythmic and melodic complexity of the passage produces an energy that effectively accompanies the fantastic prose. Each theme that appears more than once in Salomé undergoes alteration. The "Danse des éclairs" melody recurs in several forms. Immediately following its first statement (fig. 3-29, mm. 687—690), a new version is given (fig. 3-31). Figure 3—31 O - _ - > 235 The melodic differences occur after the oscillating semitone motive in the first beat of each bar. Harmonic contrast is apparent in the simple, triadic structure and mediant # alternation between A minor and C minor. Compared to the more dissonant harmonies of the initial statement (cf. fig. 3-29), this restatement is consonant and provides a slight relaxation of tension and energy. In Figure 3-32, this version is followed by the first version. It is extended in the ten measures before the climax in measure 719 (see fig. 3—30). Figure 3-32 709 236 The second bar (m. 710) of the theme is transposed up a major second, and chromatic rising dominant-seventh chords (G7_G#7_A7_Bb7 ) replace the more conservative mediant progression. A reprise of the initial dance theme (m. 711) involves a compressed intervallic descent in the last part of the measure--semitone descent replaces the whole-tone descent of measure 687 (see fig. 3-29)--and the harmony alternates between dominant-seventh chords, whose roots (C and F#) are a tritone apart. Bar 712 repeats bar 711 with the voicing reversed. At a suddenly reduced dynamic, the second half of the second version of the dance theme (m. 713) is followed by a rapid crescendo and fragmentation of the final leap in a 3 meter. The progression of measures 714-718 is a nonfunctional series of dissonant dominant-seventh chords (some with lowered and natural fifths simultaneously and some with a lowered ninth) rising chromatically over an octave. Thus the main theme of this dance, derived wholly from the folk song melody, is altered and elongated so frequently that it is never found in an exact repeat. This compositional technique is characteristic of Schmitt's works from this period. The relationship between the folk song and the second movement melodies is made clear by the similarity of motivic content. An analogous connection exists between the "x" motive of the "Prélude" and the first movement themes. Finally, the similarities between the folk song and the "x" motive, as discussed above (see page 224), illustrate the 237 method by which Schmitt unifies a work of this scope. Whether the motives were derived originally from the transcribed folk song and incorporated into the themes of both movements or composed prior to the "discovery" of it, motivic inter—connection unifies the melodic material of the work. However, Schmitt is able to compose highly individual melodies using the same motives by continually altering the thematic reprises. The result is a unified and highly contrasting melodic organization. The final melody of the work remains to be discussed. It is contrary to the above discourse in that it is not overtly connected by motive to any previous melody. Instead, it is organized around an asymmetrical rhythm and contains such dissonant chords that some historians have hailed it (and this work) as an influence on the future Russian ballets of Stravinsky (notably L'Oiseau de feu--1909-1910, and L3 Sacre dugprintemps--19ll-1913).12 12The following are among those who cite Salomé as a precursor in harmony and rhythmic innovation to StravInsky's ballets: René Dumesnil, La Musique contem oraine en France (Librairie Armand Colin, 1930), I41, 160; Martin Cooper, French Music from the Death of Berlioz to the Death of Fauré (London: Oxford University Press, 1951), 149; Jean Boyer, Kurzgefasste Geschichte der Franzfisischen Musik (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1953), 186-187; Yves Hucher, "Florent Schmitt," Encyclopedie de la Musique (1961), 659; Jean Roy, "Florent SEEmitt," Presences contemporaines musiques Francaise (Paris: Nouvelles Editions, Debresse,l962), 107; Roland- Manuel (ed.), Histoire de la musique II du XVIIIe siecle a nos jours (Paris: Librairie Gallimard,—1963), 1230; Norbert u ourcq (ed.), La Musi ue Vol. II (Paris: Larousse, 1965), 188; Laurence Davies, 'F orent Schmitt," Music and Musicians 19/1 (Sept., 1970), 22; F. W. Sternfeld (ed.), "Music of the Modern Era," Vol. 5: A History of Western Music (London: 238 The theme occurs in measure 762 at the beginning of the "Danse de l'effroi" (fig. 3-33). Figure 3-33 1141178: 0' PM”! “1:16 760 17 Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1973), 13; Arthur Hoérée, "Florent Schmitt," The New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 16 (6th ed.; London: MacMilIian Pub., Ltd., 1980), 677. 239 The dance opens in 2 meter with a two—bar chromatic descent of augmented triads. The second measure combines this descent with an octave ascent, largely in eighth notes and in a contrasting rhythm resulting in two against three beats and three against four beats. The theme is organized in four groups with the eighth note as one segment divided into 3 + g + g + g as shown in Figure 3-33. The final triplet group includes the first chord of measure 763 in an elision figure. Bar 763 inexactly reproduces the theme down a whole step with the G# in the basses retained. The pounding rhythm (minus the triplet) continues in the next two bars over a new melody comprised of an octatonic scale (Collection II, see fig. 2-25) with the final F# replacing what should be an F‘. This scalar melody reappears in an altered form also. In measure 770, it begins on the same note as its initial form (m. 764), but it is forced into a g metrical design and altered intervallically. Both versions are given in Figure 3-34. Figure 3-34 NM 240 Triple meter is clearly established by the accompaniment figure as notated below the melodies in Figure 3-34. The 7 chord followed by an F#7 harmony in measure 770 is an E for the modulated repeat in bar 771. Considering this harmony, the scales have acquired 1ydian characteristics with raised fourth scale degrees (A# and B# respectively). Although the mode is not pure, the whole step separating the first two notes of the scale creates a slightly exotic atmosphere. In measures 779-782, Schmitt has combined the pounding Z rhythm of the third measure of the dance (m. 762, fig. 3-33) with the g accompaniment figure. The triplet of the 2 measure is replaced by a duple organization still containing three notes ( m ). .In Figure 3-35, the rhythm of the passage is notated below the score with 2 divisions (in 3 plus g grouping) bracketed above and the 3 division (in 3 groups) bracketed below. This section, notated in Z, is preceded by one in 3 that contains the second melody in Figure 3r34. It combines both meters and rhythmic motives (the 2 main theme of fig. 3-33 and the g accompaniment figure of fig. 3-34) of the "Danse de l'effroi" into a single rhythmic unit (fig. 3-35). The addition and subtraction of eighth—note rests creates a spontaneous and varying rhythm. 241 Figure 3—35 U9 . . . I'll. #7:. ’ v I I t l l v n l l I ' ' . . . b ' . b ' ' m“ .. ' NA. . . m. . 1 . .. . .. .. ‘ b'r r't' IVf r'5'. :' " “I I If...» 1 l . . .. i '- o . . . """ . in. h I: n I a ' ' ' m. . . . Iii-n - m of“. 1‘ 1n ..l. 242 This passage leads to the last section of the dance. The 2 measures are simultaneously divided into groups of 2 + 2 + 1 beat in the bass instruments, and into groups of 3 + 2 beats in the high woodwinds, strings, and brass (fig. 3-36). Figure 3—36 1!".- élnul eon 243 This combination of two interpretations of Z is the culmination of all rhythmic conflict and tension in the work. It leads directly to the final cadence. Triple meter is the most frequent meter in the piece. The "Danse des perles" is comprised of g exclusively. That 2 occurs only in the "Prelude" and "Les Enchantements sur la mer" further supports the melodic and motivic links between these two sections. The 2 meter is associated mainly with the folk song and part of "Danse des éclairs." The introduction to the second movement and the Lent sections of "Danse des éclairs" are in 2. As with Psalm 47, 2 plays a prominent role in the work. It is reserved for the vigorous "Danse de l'effroi," which ends the piece. The chart in Figure 3—37 illustrates the use of meter in each section of the work. 244 Figure 3—37 3 6 2 4 5 3 3; 9 9 4 8 4 4 4 4 4 4 8 4 8 Prelude 0 104 0 0 2 1 0 0 2 0 Danse des 419 O O O 0 0 0 O O O perles Introduction 0 O l 16 0 0 O 0 O 0 Enchantements 0 71 51 0 O 19 0 0 0 0 sur la mer Danse des 4 0 14 33 O 8 13 0 O 1 éclairs Danse de 0 0 0 O 28 0 0 5 0 0 l'effroi 245 Harmony As with all of Schmitt's works from this period, La Tragédie de Salomé is a tonal composition. The harmonic content of this work is an extension of traditional practice, as it was in Psalm 47. Experimental application of these techniques in Salomé is often more innovative and daring, while the tonal organization involving the intervals of a perfect fifth, the tritone, and semitone is similar to that of Psalm 47. Salomé ends in E minor. Although E minor appears only in the "Danse de l'effroi" and briefly in "Les Enchantements sur la mer," Schmitt constructed the tonal plan of the work around this key. The primary keys of each section relate to the final key directly, through dominant or Neapolitan relationships, and indirectly, through secondary dominant or mediant relationships. After E minor, the most important keys are B major and F major, the dominant and lowered second scale degrees of E. Other important keys are b # B major (the subdominant of F), F major (the dominant of B), and G major/minor (the relative major of E minor). The relationship of Bb major and E minor is very important from a structural standpoint throughout the work. Bb major, when presented as the subdominant of F, is used in modulations. Additionally, it is used as a leading tone to the dominant of E minor and in direct tritone relationship with E minor. Near the climax of the work a few measures 246 from the end, the notes of E major and Bb major are combined in a single chord. In this manner, the tonal conflict between the keys in this piece is culminated. The first movement illustrates this complex tonal relationship and effectively balances the second movement. The "Prélude" of the first movement begins on an octave G, the third of an E—minor chord. The first key, F minor, is not established until measure 10, with the first theme. The music modulates a tritone to B major at the first climax of the section in measure 27. F major is established in measure 49 following a short section in Ab major. The first theme is repeated in its original key (F minor). Finally, the key of F major, in measure 80, leads to the final chord of the section, a whole-tone dominant chord on B. The chord is in first inversion with a D# as the melodic bass note. The placement of the leading tone to E minor in such an important place may have been an intentional connection of this chord, and the "Prélude," to the key of E minor. In any case, the two main keys in the "Prélude" are F major/minor and B major. Figure 3—38 Prélude , r B Ab F r F B7b5 Danse des b 1‘" d F | 13b D | a# c# F!“ I ah c# 13b Db Eh I ah Bb-cb Bb perles 247 The "Danse des perles" begins in B minor with an octave melody that outlines a B-diminished triad. After only 12 measures the opening of the dance is repeated in F# minor. Through the mediant D minor, F major is established. The second section of the dance is in Bb major. The section concludes with a short passage in D major. The middle section of the dance is harmonically the # most unstable. It begins ambiguously in A minor over a # C pedal. Tonic harmony in B major is implied by the long C# # harmonic pedal points on and, later, on F , which unify the section and relate the dissonant sonorities to the key of B major. At the end of this turbulent section, the F# -dominant-seventh chord resolves deceptively to Bb major b rather than to B major. B major is the key of the fourth section of the dance. In this section, the keys of C# minor and Db major are presented in alternation with Bb major. The last 16 measures of the first movement end in a sixteenth-note alternation of Bb and Cb. Even in the b grace-note run to the final B chord, the G is replaced with b (the fifth of Cb major). Thus, the important relation- a G ship of Bb major to E minor is established in two separate ways. At first, Bb major is presented as the subdominant to F major, the important Neapolitan chord of E minor. » At the end of the first movement, Bb major is connected to b E minor through its semitone proximity to C major, the enharmonic dominant of E minor. The more direct tritone l 248 relationship of Bb and E is used only in the second movement. The concluding measures of the second movement combine Bb major and E minor directly in both chord progressions and as superimposed chords. Figure 3—39 Lent F7 B7 Enchantements B9,~ E Eb7 | g Fb-g e G# G#-c A-Db sur la mer The second movement begins with a short phrase that leads to an F-dominant-seventh chord. The phrase is repeated in an altered form, and it leads to a dominant- seventh chord on B. In the first seven measures of the movement, the composer has connected the Bb-major cadence of the first movement with B major through a tritone relationship of the dominant of Bb major. The "Prélude" of the first movement and this slow introduction of the second movement contain similar procedures and objectives. Both sections begin in F and move to B; both introduce the dances that follow them in B. "Les Enchantements sur la mer" opens on a B—dominant-ninth chord. Through a series of modulations involving the major keys of C, E, F, A, and B, Schmitt arrives at a pedal point on E in measure 612. This dance is largely comprised of mediant modulations and progressions. Much of 249 the melodic material is from the "Prelude." The E pedal is replaced by an Eb-dominant-seventh chord in first inversion. The Eb and Db of this chord resolve to a DH. The G and Bb b7 and G minor. In this manner, are common chord tones of E G minor of the following section is established. G minor/major is the key of the Eastern folk song in measure 617. The folk song in the second part of "Les Enchantements sur la mer" is stated alone at first by a soprano soloist. At its repeat, in measure 630, it is harmonized in the key of Fb major, an enharmonic reference to E major, but it concludes in G minor. The folk song section devotes several measures to music in E major or E minor. A development of the song in E minor precedes a transposition of it in G# # major. Near the end of the section a G —dominant—seventh chord leads to a C—dominant- seventh chord (mm. 672-673). This progression is repeated b7) in the next measures. The a semitone higher (A7 to D section ends in Db major with a Db ostinato constructed from an extension of its third measure. The melody of the "Danse des éclairs" is derived from the Db ostinato figure, but the harmony of the opening b major. The dance quickly modulates through # measures is E Bb major and A minor. The first section is repeated in F major, and modulations to Db major and C minor are included. A section in D minor, which uses the folk song melody, leads to a passage on an E-diminished-seventh chord. The main 250 keys of this dance encircle and finally touch upon E minor. E minor is gradually given more prominence as the end of the work approaches. Figure 3-40 Dansedes Eb7BbaFnDbcde‘7IF7 ~ ~ FBbF b + éclairs ’18 ’fi /C# Danse de E+ E C D E F” b c B (Bb7b5+E7bs) e l'effroi The "Danse de l'effroi" is preceded by a short section of alternating slow and fast passages. This section begins in measure 723 with an F-dominant—seventh chord over a B pedal. The F chord at this point connects this section with the "Prélude" and the Introduction of the second movement since both earlier sections began in a similar tempo and style. This may indicate that the work originally was conceived harmonically as three movements with this short section as an introduction to the third movement. However, the "Danse de l'effroi" is not long enough to balance the other movements, and no other evidence exists to support this theory. The B pedal is replaced by a C# pedal. The keys of F major and Bb major are referred to briefly. A series of unrelated chords culminate in a cadence of an F-augmented triad to an E-augmented triad. This Neapolitan movement, which had been harmonically anticipated from the beginning 251 of the work, occurs at the opening of the "Danse de l'effroi" in measure 759. This final dance freely presents harmonies of the most dissonant quality in sequence, chord progressions involving a tritone, and rapidly modulating phrases. E major, E minor, B minor, and B major are the most important tonal areas of this dance. In the last measures a whole-tone dominant chord on E is imitated by a whole-tone dominant on Bb. The two keys are combined in measure 783 and join to form one chord that consists of the notes Bb, D, E, and Ab. These notes form a Bb—whole-tone dominant and an enharmonic E-whole-tone dominant simultaneously. This combination of Bb , which was the main key of the first movement, and E, the key of the final movement, occurs at the climax of the work. Schmitt used these keys as the crux of his tonal scheme, and he based much of the harmonic tension on the tritone relationship and juxtapostion of the two harmonies. By combining the two tonal centers in a whole—tone dominant at this point, he unified the harmonic activity of the work. In this chord, the tonal conflict between Bb and E, which spans the work, is consummated. The two keys become one. The piece ends in E minor 15 bars later. Figure 3-41 contains a summary of the tonal plan of all sections of the work. 252 Figure 3—41 I. Prélude r B Ab F r F B7b5 Danse des b r# d F | Bb D | a# c# F#7 I Bb c# Bb Db Eh I Bb Bb—cb Bb perles II. Lent F7 B7 Enchantements 89 ~ E Eb7 I g Fb-g e G# G#-C A-Db sur la mer Danse des Eb7 Bb a F#7 Db c d e’7l F7 ~ ~ F Bb F+ . b # eclairs /B 'fi /C Danse de E+ E c D E F# b c B (Bb7b5+E7b5) e l'effroi As with the tonal structure, the harmonic procedures in Salomé are grounded in traditional practice. The use of the intervals of the tritone and semitone in the tonal design is extended to all levels of the harmonic vocabulary, and these intervals are used for expressive purposes in chord voicing, progressions, modulations, chord structure, in conjunction with symmetrical scales and chords, as well as in melodies and transitions. The whole-tone dominant, a common sonority in Psalm 47, is unequivocally the most_ frequently heard chord in Salomé, out-numbering even the conventional seventh and ninth chords. Through the enharmonic combination in the "Danse de l'effroi" of two whole-tone dominant chords whose roots are a tritone apart, the symmetrical chord plays a structural role in the work. 253 The principle of harmonic development is an integral part of style in Salomé. Exact repetitions of a melody or passage of music are rare, and unaltered harmonic repeat is almost nonexistent. This harmonic variation always exists in the interest of an expressive purpose, propelling the section toward a climax or adding new color to the passage. Contrast between textures, dynamics, and consonance and dissonance also serves an expressive intention, and this trait is evident especially in the "Danse des perles." Throughout his prolific life Schmitt never stopped experimenting with the harmonic resources inherent in an essentially tonal idiom. In Salomé, these experiments take the form of highly dissonant chords, containing a split fifth or split third, for example, unconventional inversions of extended tertian structures, palindrome organization, and predominance of the whole-tone dominant collection. While comparison of Schmitt's harmonic style with that of his contemporaries is reserved for the summary, these experimental aspects of his style are examined in detail in this chapter following a short discussion of his more tradi— tional traits and the harmonic devices that dilute or weaken the tonal structure. The presentation of several musical examples that support these views is given below. Since a single passage may advance more than one of these points, they will be identified individually. 254 A notable use of the conventional, authentic cadence involves the three most important chords of the work: E minor, its dominant B major, and its lowered second scale degree F major. The progression in measures 573—574 is F-major seventh, B-dominant seventh, and E—major ninth (fig. 3-42). Figure 3-42 571 571 The descending, chromatic approach to the F chord is mirrored in voice-leading of each of the four lines of the chords. In every case but two (mm. 571-572, A-G and mm. 573-574, F-F#-G#), the voices fall chromatically to the 255 cadence on E. The authentic cadence is embellished by a seventh and ninth added to the E-major chord, a typical sonority in music of the era, and by a harmonic approach involving added notes (the major seventh of the F—major triad), parallel chord descent to F major (and E major via the B7 chord), and augmented sixth activity. A progression involving mainly mediant and stepwise movement, that contains a cadence with authentic bass movement, is found in measures 71-80 in the "Prélude" (fig. 3—43). The dominant—seventh chord serves as the basis of every chord, except the F-major triad in measure 80, and, in each chord, the tertian structure is extended with notes added a ninth, eleventh, or thirteenth above the root. Furthermore, as the cadence approaches, several chords include the lowered fifth, a familiar alteration yielding the whole—tone dominant structure. Figure 3-43 8 ............ 71 35::Tflfl—rfir~\ q 9 ,,_\ i%* fl . 256 Figure 3-43 (continued) I erement 257 Figure 3-43 (continued) Ring in»: Betcnez 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 258 The progression, given in letter form following the music in Figure 3-43, is nonfunctional. It contains a slow, harmonic rhythm with one chord for each bar from measure 72-78. The approach to the cadence in measure 80 contains increased harmonic activity, with chord changes in bar 79 at two—beat and, finally, one—beat intervals. Rhythmic complexity achieved by the use of the sequenced "x1" motive contributes to the cadential drive. A whole—tone scale in the descending treble line (mm. 78-80) is underscored with chords of the whole-tone dominant rising by whole step in the bass. The final two harmonies preceding the cadence depart from this formula. Authentic bass movement, from C to F, ties the cadence to traditional practice, while the actual chord movement is by third. In this passage, the tonality is obscured by nonfunctional progression, extended tertian chord structure, the whole- tone scale and harmonies based on it, and harmonic alteration. Mediant progressions comprise nearly half of the harmonic movement in "Les Enchantements sur la mer." In this section and in "Danse des éclairs," they provide color or harmonic contrast (fig. 3-44). 259 Figure 3-44 . 691 > # The simple alteration of the A minor and C chords increases # in complexity with the mode change of C minor (m. 691) to C# major, a chord more distantly related to A minor (m. 692). Dissonance is increased in the next bar by a dominant— seventh flat-ninth chord on E over the A pedal on the last eighth note of the measure. The melody, at this point, alternates the third of the A minor chord with a semitone on either side of it. This adds to the expressive energy of the passage. At times mediant movement connects otherwise unrelated chords. Four measures before the violent beginning of the "Danse de l'effroi" (fig. 3-33), Schmitt wrote a few starkly simple brass chords. The chords arrest 260 the motion of the end of the preceding dance and provide a strong contrast to the turbulent dance played by the full orchestra that follows (fig. 3-45). Figure 3-45 756 An Mouvement (lent) > 13’ >A «a . 3353- flANSI DI L’II'FROI Anlmé .. 8; """"""""""" ' 7 5 9 A 9 l I" .81 :E b J I» la The chords are connected to the "Danse de l'effroi" by a 1ydian glissando on F in the harp and piccolo. The movement from an augmented F triad to octave E's at the opening of the final dance is important since keys built on both these pitches play such a strong role in the tonal design of the work. 261 In "Danse des perles" a nonfunctional series of dominant-seventh chords leads to a cadence in F major (m. 158). The F pedal, which anticipates the new key, and the unrelated chords create a dissonant passage that is relieved and contrasted by the authentic cadence (fig. 3-46). Figure 3-46 152 Consonance and dissonance are contrasted most visibly in the four measures following the cadence. The simple F-major chord alternates with an extremely dissonant, six- note chord that includes three semitones. In this work, modulation is treated in much the same way as it is in Psalm 47. Schmitt was experimenting with the sonority of new chords and with the nonconventional connection of chords during this time. Direct modulation was the ideal medium for his experimentation. Direct modulation is found more than any other type of modulation 262 in the work. For example, measures 27 and 28 contain a B—dominant—ninth chord modulating to the new key of A major (fig. 3-47). Figure 3-47 >/ Renae: f «an (anti A Aniline: unpen (’1 7. - 4". 28 Even in a cadence that is as straightforward as this, Schmitt added notes that augment the harmony and enrich the # sonority. The E#, replacing F , in the beat preceding the cadence (marked in fig. 3—47 with an asterisk) and the # added to the A—major chord at the downbeat of melodic F bar 28, are typical examples of harmonic alteration in Salomé. Schmitt often used extended tertian structures, altered chords, chord planing, and static harmonies to 263 weaken the traditional tonal structure in Psalm 47, and the application of these same harmonic techniques in Salomé produces very similar results. A chromatic progression found at the opening of the "Danse de l'effroi" (see fig. 3-33) contains a two—octave chromatic descent of augmented triads in the upper strings and woodwinds. The second measure of the passage contains an ascending chromatic scale in a different rhythm in the bass instruments. This rhythmic complexity, which combines groups of four, three, and two notes, and the chord planing of a whole-tone chord weakens the tonal feeling at this point, provides a great contrast from the stark brass chords that precede it (see fig. 3—45), and supplies a dramatic energy that depicts the furious hurricane called for at the beginning of the final dance. Static sections often are comprised of extended tertian structures or dissonant, complex chords that cloud the tonality of the passage. The music preceding the folk song in."Les Enchantements sur la mer" includes a harmonic palindrome that is based on one chord, Ebg. With only two exceptions (circled in fig. 3-48), the notes of each chord b9 belong to the E chord. 264 Figure 3-48 1.3137 g? g+ +7 bb‘7 eb7 b§7 8+7 8? 8* Eb7 L‘ija .__9 . ,515' b9 Following two bars of sustained E , the passage is repeated at the same pitch but altered harmonically (fig. 3-49). #9 In measure 598, a F harmony is sustained beginning with a half-diminished seventh chord constructed on a root a major third above (A#¢7). The harmonic content of this bar is an augmented second above its initial appearance (fig. 3-47), while, with one exception (Eh replacing F), the melody is enharmonically identical. 265 Figure 3—49 Aooélo’rez ..------.-----------------.-. Au louv‘ 1‘1"!" - . An louv‘ Acoéle’rez #9 harmony, and the 7 The circled notes do not belong to the F 599) is in m. chord at the center of the palindrome (F 266 # completely foreign to the F harmony. Measure 600 repeats measure 598 with a different final chord. Bar 602 contains the final statement before the folk song. The harmony in this measure is based on a B9 chord. The melodic movement of rising minor thirds is continued in bar 603, which melodically repeats bar 602 a step higher. However, the palindrome harmonic structure is replaced, in bar 603, with parallel half-diminished seventh chords that also ascend by minor thirds (C#¢7-E¢7-G¢7-B¢7). Palindromic movement also is evident in the individual note movement in measure 601 (see brackets). Symmetrical structures are numerous also. The melodic movement of rising minor thirds is one example. A G-lydian scale with a lowered seventh, a collection with only one semitone, is found in measure 601. This scale is very common in Psalm 47 as well. Measures 604-608 contain whole—tone dominant-seventh chords on G, A, and Bb. Whole- tone and chromatic scales occur in these measures also. Chords that contain only notes of the whole-tone scale, including tritone diads, augmented triads, whole-tone dominant sevenths, and extended whole—tone dominants, are very frequent in Salomé. The whole-tone dominant seventh occurs more often than the simple triad or conventional dominant-seventh chord. It appears with increasing frequency throughout the second movement.13 The significance of this 13The whole—tone dominant occurs in about one-sixth of the measures of the movement, in nearly one-third of the measures of the "Danse des éclairs," and in over half of the measures of the "Danse de l'effroi." 267 chord is realized not only by the frequency of its appearance, but also in its presence at structurally important points in the work. The initial chord of the "Danse des éclairs," for example, is a whole—tone dominant chord with Eb as its root and the seventh in the b7 bass (fig. 3—50). Mediant movement to a G chord retains b the D in the bass and leads back to the whole—tone chord in measure 688. Figure 3-50 numnusiaums I Chords containing five or all six notes of the whole—tone scale are not uncommon in the score. A passage from the "Danse des perles" modulates from B minor to Bb major using a whole-tone dominant chord and two different six-note whole—tone collections (fig. 3—51). Figure 3-51 268 Following the second-inversion B-minor chord in bar 424 is a chord comprised of four notes from the whole-tone scale (B, c#, Eb # , C) over an F pedal in the treble part. The combined pitches from measure 426 yield a complete whole- tone collection on F#. All pitches on a whole-tone scale on B are inclusive in the first chord of the next bar. Contrast between tonally ambiguous chords such as these and simple second-inversion triads in the first and last bars of this figure is an integral characteristic of this dance. Traditional bass movement by fifth which accompanies the whole-tone chords is disrupted by movement by diminished fifth to measure 428. The whole-tone.dominant-seventh chord is enharmoni- cally equivalent in two keys whose roots are separated by a tritone. Thus, a whole-tone dominant-seventh chord on E and on Bb contain the same notes (E, G#, Bb, D), and Schmitt utilizes this trait to present simultaneously the key of the second movement, E minor, and the key of the first movement, b B major, at the climax of the work nine measures from its conclusion (fig. 3-52). 269 Figure 3-52 Elm-glue: (b ' CDOOIO »E The climax, in bar 784, is preceded by a passage of chromatic descending major triads and the violent rhythmic music given in full score in Figure 3—35. Tritone movement 270 is evident in the melody of measure 778 and the chord progression, marked fortissimo, in measures 779-781. The chord notated in sixteenth notes in these bars is very dissonant, consisting of a major triad with a lowered and b b in bars 779 and 780). It natural fifth (Cb, E , F, G resolves to a dominant—seventh chord on F, a tritone removed. The harmonic structure on the downbeat of bar 782 combines the tonic notes of the three most important keys of the work: Bb, E, and F. The last part of the measure presents the whole-tone dominant-seventh chord first with E as the bass and then Bb. Measure 783 is an inexact repeat of measure 782. The climax, in bar 784, features the bass tritone alternation on each quarter note and increased rhythmic activity alsoijmthe treble lines. The tonal contrast between these keys, established in the "Prélude" and main- tained throughout the piece, is resolved in this passage through a harmonic synthesis of the keys reduced to their tonic notes. The passage leads to the final E-minor section in bar 785. Upon careful study of the work, it becomes clear that it was written with the interval of a tritone as a central unifying device. The tritone pervades the score. It is used in chords, scales, motives, melodies, progressions, keys, and movement relationships. The tritone naturally occurs in dominant seventh, ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords, in chords with split fifth degrees, and in 271 whole—tone triads and dominants. Several types of altered chords and aggregate chords found in Salomé contain tritone intervals. The voicing of the chords often accentuates this interval. In other instances, all chord tones except the notes which form the tritone are omitted leaving an open tritone (fig. 3-53, see asterisk). Figure 3—53 Lydian, whole-tone, and octatonic scales, which are prevalent in the score, also include an augmented fourth. Several melodies are accompanied with tritone chords or involve the melodic interval directly in the theme itself. The first chord of the "Prélude" is a whole-tone dominant seventh chord (see m. 1, fig. 3-6). Each dance begins with a prominent use of the tritone. The "Danse des perles" incorporates the tritone directly in the melody (see fig. 3-15). Progressions containing harmonies a tritone apart are very frequent in the score. For example, in measures 496-497 a simple Bb triad in second inversion moves to a 272 dissonant E—major triad with a natural fifth and a lowered fifth. The added A# may be seen as a remnant from the b triad of preceding chord or as an anticipation of the E the following measure. In either case, the dissonance, flanked by two consonant measures, is heightened by the tritone progression (fig. 3-54). Figure 3-54 496 Another example of tritone progressions may be seen in Figure 3-52. Sections of the work are often written in keys separated by a tritone. The introduction to the second movement is such a place. The first movement ends in Bb major. The introduction to the second movement effectively modulates from Bb major to B major, the key of "Les Enchantements sur la mer." Rather than a simple modulation by semitone, Schmitt moves from Bb major through F major to B major in sequential modulations. Even the short motive which appears at the end of this introduction contains 273 tritone leaps (marked with brackets in fig. 3—55). The thirty-second-note figure is derived from the second measure of the second movement. It contains the intervals of a minor second, minor third (or augmented second), tritone, and major second. This pattern is initiated on pitches separated by a tritone. The intervallic content, which is exactly inverted in the descending versions, imparts an Eastern flavor that pervades the dance. The motive reappears briefly before the folk song in measure 610. Figure 3-55 540 5!.3 Retenel un pen \i/ In measures 543 and 544, the pattern is reduced to a minor second followed by a tritone. Chromatic movement from A to F is paralleled by movement from D to B at the interval of diminished fifths. 274 The second movement ends in the key of E minor. Thus, a tritone relationship exists between the two movements. While Schmitt did give other intervals structural importance, especially the minor second as seen in Neapolitan movement and the third which occurs in the mediant movement of "Les Enchantements sur la mer," the tritone is systematically applied to every level of the work. Contrast is achieved through harmonic means as much as it is through dynamic or tempo fluctuation. Harmonic contrast, achieved largely through alternation of dissonance and consonance, is frequent enough in the work to be interpreted as a stylistic trait. The "Danse des perles" contains numerous instances of harmonic contrast within the phrase. By systematically juxtaposing dissonance and consonance, Schmitt has created a highly charged harmonic motion. Often the level of dissonance is increased gradually. At times the end of the phrase is harshly dissonant providing striking contrast with the following consonant phrase. Measures 480-488 illustrate this prevalent technique (fig. 3—56). A simple tritone, C-F#, alternates with a G# in bar 480. The pitches A and D are added in the b and Ab in bar 482, they make a second-inversion dominant—seventh chord on Ab. Gradually next bar, and, with E the chord complexity and dissonance increase over a bass moving by tritone to the cadence on a chord which includes all but one of the pitches of a whole-tone scale. 275 Figure 3—56 480 g. ..-,“... Tréo v", “autoi- nu angel-stun Measure 488 provides a startling contrast to this build—up of complexity with a simple Bb-major triad. The contrast is highlighted in this example by a distinct change in the tempo and rhythm. Figure 3-45 also illustrates contrast of texture and orchestration found in the "Danse de l'effroi." Experimental harmonic writing was one of the vehicles used to achieve startling contrast, extreme or unconventional dissonance, and expressive energy in Salomé. Ninth chords are especially frequent in the score. Schmitt took this common late-Romantic chord one step further by voicing the chord with the ninth in the bass (fig. 3-57). 276 Figure 3-57 647 Acoe'le'un légén-ent ugh By writing a chromatic bass melody and placing the ninth of the chord in the bass, Schmitt supplied traditional dominant- to—tonic movement in a nontraditional way. The passage vacillates between E major and B major harmonies. Measure 648, for example, contains an E—dominant-ninth chord followed by a B chord and a B9 chord in the next measure. # The ninth of the E chord (F ) is in the bass and it moves down by step to E#, the altered fifth of the B chord, and to D#, the third of the 39 chord. Dominant—seventh chords with lowered ninths are found in harshly dissonant passages that often are supported by a percussive effect in the orchestra. The climax of the "Danse de l'effroi" in measure 762 contains a G14!7b9 in pounding, tgttt chords (see fig. 3-33). The extreme energy, generated by the string section playing accented notes at the frog of the bow ("du talon"), is supplemented with added notes in the woodwinds and brass on the triplet in the last beat of the measure. Each appearance of this powerful, 277 rhythmic figure contains added instruments. Complete orchestration, involving full orchestra, is achieved in the sixteenth notes of measures 779-781 (fig. 3-35). Pedal point is a traditional method to build tension in a section of music, and Schmitt uses it to create passages #-C# pedal, in combination with the progression F7, Ab7, D, Bb7, Eb7, and Ab7 of extreme dissonance. The C (mm. 288-293), illustrates a typical use of a pedal point pitched in a different key from the chord progression it accompanies (fig. 3-58). Figure 3—58 8 ‘43. 1F. . . j The first measure of "Les Enchantements sur la mer" contains a static B—dominant-ninth harmony played in tremolo by divisi strings. After the first two beats of the measure, the B chord is replaced by a superimposed F#—minor triad and G#—minor triad (fig. 3-59). The voicing of these two chords changes every beat of the measure. 0n the third beat, the # violins contain the G F# -minor triad and the violas play the —minor triad. The fourth beat reverses the voices. 278 Figure 3-59 ‘15 INCIMYL'LVTS SF] ll 1‘" En some lent (lam in Prelude) 6 Since a pedal B-F# is held in the basses and 'celli throughout the measure, the passage is not bitonal. Rather, the different chords are combined to create a blur of color in a harmonically static passage. The muted string tremolo heightens this effect. Although the individual pitches of 13 chord, the voicing clearly both chords comprise a B demonstrates the separation and alternation of the minor triads over the tonic/dominant pedal. Ninth chords, especially ones of harsh dissonance involving the interval of a minor ninth, are found in increasing frequency throughout the second movement. Altered dominant sevenths also occur more often in this movement. A passage leading to the climax of the "Danse des éclairs" in measure 719 contains nine whole—tone dominant-seventh chords. All but the first of these include the natural fifth as well as the lowered fifth of the chord. From bar 714-716, the interval between these two fifths is accented by voicing 279 the whole-tone dominant in second inversion (with the lowered fifth in the lowest voice), and the natural fifth simultaneously sounding in the top line (fig. 3—60). Figure 3-60 Avec {rénéele The climax of the dance is achieved "avec frénésie" in measure 719. Preceded by a chromatic progression of lowered ninth chords in first inversion, it represents one of the most energetic passages in the work. The rhythmic and melodic aspects of this music have been examined on 280 page 233 of this paper (cf. fig. 3-30, the full score version of measure 719 and 720). Harmonically the dissonance of the Eb b9 chord in first inversion at the climax is augmented by the scoring and the multi-layered texture. The chord and triplet on beat four of the bar is played by the brass section at fortissimo and accented with the enharmonic flat ninth (E5 ) in the third trumpet. The upper woodwinds and upper strings trill on pitches of an Eb triad and conclude the measure in arpeggios of contrary motion that contain the lowered ninth scale degree (Fb). Augmented intervals in the harp arpeggio, octatonic scales in the low voices, and other melodic activity combine to create a violent, energetic section that is the most forward-looking characteristic of Schmitt's compositional style at this point in his career. CHAPTER IV SUMMARY An examination of Schmitt's music reveals a strong, distinctive compositional style, which is a unique synthesis of French, German, and Russian Romantic music traits and an experimental approach to harmony and rhythm that parallels the development of other avant-garde composers of this time. Associations between the music of Schmitt and Berlioz, Chabrier, Massenet, Fauré, and Debussy affirm Schmitt's fundamental French heritage, a claim he vigorously maintained throughout his life. The expressive power of his music has led critics to align him with German Romantic composers, especially Strauss and Wagner. Perhaps the strongest non-French stylistic connection is with Russian composers. The music of Rimsky—Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Balakirev, Borodin, and others was introduced into Parisian musical society in the last decade of the nineteenth and first decade of the twentieth century. Much of Schmitt's music of the Prix de Rome years, and especially of the period from his return to Paris in 1906 to the beginning of World War I, shows similarities with Russian scores. Octatonic scale, orientalisms, and certain orchestration techniques supply the main association between this Russian music and Schmitt's works of this time. 281 282 There is also a strong affiliation between the music of Schmitt and that of his peers and the younger generation in Paris before the war. Stravinsky enjoyed a close friendship with the older French composer, and certain compositional traits, most notably those associated with Stravinsky's Russian ballets, are common to scores of both composers. The stylistic similarities among scores of Schmitt and Stravinsky, as well as the other composers mentioned above, will be examined in this summary in order to place Schmitt in proper historical perspective. This will be preceded by a summation of the most important stylistic characteristics of the pre-World War I years based on the analysis of Psalm 47 and La Tragédie de Salomé that is presented in this paper. In general, the melodies found in these works are short and chromatic, and they contain irregular and asymmetrical phrases. Dotted rhythms are frequent; they occur in every melody in Psalm 47 and most of the Salomé melodies. The melodies are composed of easily recognizable motives that recur in other melodies and often connect and unify the melodic activity of the entire composition. In the large symphonic works a motive may be introduced alone in the first bars of the piece and the first melody made to grow out of it. Salomé is constructed in this manner. Upon repeat, the melodies are modified or transformed. Schmitt rescores, reharmonizes, alters the intervallic or rhythmic 283 content, and adds new countermelodies to the melody, but he invariably retains the basic character of its original appearance. Often the harmonic content of the accompaniment is more complex and the texture is thicker at the reappearance of the melody. Even melodies that are not newly composed--the folk song in "Les Enchantements sur la mer" of Salomé for example--evolve at each occurrence. Often repeated melodies are more ornate or appear in a more ornamented form. Exotic elements such as augmented intervals, the raised fourth scale degree, and symmetrical scale structures are found in both Psalm 47 and Salomé as well as other works from this period. If the melody is sung, the words are carefully set and the prosody is accurate. Examples of word painting may be found in Schmitt's works from this period. A phrase of text, "Gloire au Seigneur" for instance, may serve as a summary of the complete text of the work and unify it through frequent reappearances as well. The most frequent motive of this time is highly distinctive and often involves stepwise movement in a long-short-long pattern. P. O. Ferroud labeled this motive as the first category in his classification of Schmitt's melodies—~the one that is essentially rhythmic:_lz__1ELl_, m , or transformed as..C3.Io_-_j.“..1 The opening motive 1Autour de Florent Schmitt, (Paris: Durand at £115, 1927), p. 31. 284 of Salomé (marked "x" in the preceding analysis) is a good example of this motive. It is presented in the first measure by 'celli and basses and evolves into the first melody of the work in bar 10 (cf. figs. 3-6 and 3-10). It has been shown that this motive is found in all melodies of this work except those of the "Danse de l'effroi." Some motives from other of Schmitt's works that contain similar rhythms or shapes are given in Figure 4-1. 285 Figure 4-1 Le palais hanté (1904) SO- 1 Lent 1) La Tragédie de Saloné (1907) 'ce 0, assp,v / vvv 7 Lent et grave H Quintette (1908) C. I r 1 T gfina 5 ‘ 507 (Hvt. 3) (1 Quintette (1908) pno.,'cellofi >"‘—""‘ ” 7 >__, V Avec violence et agitation e "Vienne" (Reflets d'Allemagne 1912) pno. secon afi )- Ulentends dans le lointain...‘ (Olbres, 1917) Légende (1918) "Tristesse de Pan" (Hirages, 1920) Le petit elfe Ferne-l'Oeil (1923) "Le palais silencieux" (Salanan, 1925) 7 AHi.é ’ "Festin des Barbares" (Salannb6, 1925) 286 Usually, the motive is introduced within the first melodic statement of the work or movement. Half of the examples of Figure 4—1 are from the first measure of the work and all are part of the initial melodic material. In the Quintet it occurs at the climax of the final movement, but it is related to the motive found at the opening of the first movement (see fig. 4-1, items d and c). In this case and with many other works including Salomé, the motive unifies the piece. Another motive that is used very frequently is the accented short-long rhythm from the first bar of the folk song in Salomé: if} . It also is found in the opening measures of a work usually in the lowest orchestral instruments or left hand of the piano. In Salomé, the motive moves by semitone between the minor and major third scale degree. Elsewhere, it moves down by a whole tone (Andante et scherzo, 1906, m. 1 and Sonata libre en deux parties V 1 enchainées, 1919, m. 1), down by third (g¥{/§- Réves, 1913, m. 92), or up by third ("sur le chemin désert," Musiques intimes #II, 1901, m. 1). The rhythm of these two predominant motives enlivens the melodies in which they occur. They also unite the themes, sections, or movements of the work. Another type of melody is found in works of this period. It constitutes a second category of melodies that appear less often than the short, motivic, and distinctive 287 themes described above. This second category comprises melodies that are long expressive lines which contain several climaxes and usually many asymmetrical phrases. The frequent use of appoggiatura figures, especially the resolution at the end of the phrase of the fourth to the third scale degree, an extreme breadth, contour, and wide range is commonplace in French music of the nineteenth century and in the music of Schmitt before the Prix de Rome. This type of melody illustrates the strong connection between Schmitt's music and the French song heritage of the previous century. It occurs in the pre-World War I compositions and, to a lesser degree, in his later works. The second melody of the middle movement of Psalm 47 (fig. 2-31) is a good example of this-type of melody. Motivic manipulation plays a less significant role with melodies of this category, and Schmitt has used them to contrast the more compact motivic themes of this period. Generally, Schmitt's orchestral works from this period begin simply in the low register and gradually increase in thickness of texture and complexity throughout the composition. In Psalm 47, the first instance of rhythmic independence in the vocal parts occurs in measure 93, where the outer voices have a different rhythm from the alto and tenor lines. The bars immediately following this phrase contain the first non-diatonic vocal pitches of the work. The level of contrapuntal complexity also follows 288 the pattern of simple to more complex culminating in the fugue then dropping back to a thinner texture only to build to another level of intricacy. As in all of his symphonic works of this time, this measured increase in complexity is coupled with a skillful management of complexity in the harmonic and rhythmic content and a masterful orchestration which heightens the effect. In this way, the climax of the piece usually is the point of the greatest complexity. The difficulty of the works of all but the earliest period of Schmitt's output limits the performance to professional musicians. His piano music in particular is very demanding. Much of it is written on three staves. One of the most outstanding characteristics of Schmitt's style is the intense expressive energy and full sound of his orchestral works of this period. In Psalm 47, and to a greater extent in Salomé, Schmitt wrote music that contains sections that were in sharp contrast to the style of music by Debussy, Massenet, and Fauré. The music of the opening of Psalm 47, where the first chord is an accented F# b9b5 chord sung and played at fortissimo (see fig. 2-34), is a good example. Other examples are the "Danse des éclairs" and "Danse de l'effroi" from Salomé (figs. 3-44 and 3-52). These sections consist of such dissonance and violent expressive power that critics denied Schmitt his French heritage claiming him to be basically Teutonic in style. Passages of such extreme power are usually coupled 289 with innovative rhythms and meters. The climax of the finale of Psalm 47 combines the augmented chorale theme in 2 with the dotted rhythms of the dance in 2 (see fig. 2-11). The brass fanfare is added from bar 651, and harmonic alternation in a duple pattern and triple meter conclude the work. Schmitt used a a? time signature at the opening of the powerful "Danse des éclairs" in Salomé (see fig. 3-44). In the "Danse des effroi," extremely dissonant harmonies in tritone progressions are coupled with percussive rhythms in asymmetrical groupings within a quintuple meter (see fig. 3-52, mm. 779-781). These passages established Schmitt as a leader in the musical avant-garde in Paris and made these two works the most popular of his entire oeuvre. Exotic elements are found in both scores. They dilute the tonality of the passage since they introduce augmented intervals, modality, symmetrical scales, and harmonic structures built of the notes of these scales. In particular, the lydian mode, with a lowered seventh scale degree, and chords comprised of notes of the whole-tone scale are very common in Schmitt's works from this period. The first theme of the first movement of his Quintet, Opus 51 (1901—1908) contains a prominent augmented second between the raised fourth and the third scale degrees of B minor (fig. 4‘2). 290 Figure 4—2 I I coun- In addition to the augmented interval, several other characteristics of this theme are typical of Schmitt's melodies at this time. It is short and comprised of a stepwise descent from the dominant to the tonic of a B-minor scale with a raised fourth degree. Distinctive rhythmic motives, which unite the cyclic work, occur in the octave melody of the first two measures. An elaborated version follows with expanded motives. The chord progression is by third except for the final plagal cadence. An augmented- sixth chord on B (marked with an "*" in fig. 4-2) contains four of the six pitches of a whole-tone scale including the raised fourth melody note and the sustianed tonic B in the bass. The raised fourth scale degree also appears in sequence in Trios valses—nocturnes, Opus 31 completed in June, 1901 (fig. 4—3a) and in Chant élégiaque, Opus 24 from 1903 (fig. 4—3b). Both examples employ the first five notes of the lydian scale only. The sequence is bracketed. 291 Figure 4—3 8. % Another example found in the prominent theme from the beginning of Etude pour le "Palais hanté" d'Edggr Poé includes a raised fourth scale degree, which receives an agogic accent (see fig. 4-1a). The lydian pattern is used following the whole—tone scale in Psalm 47 (see fig. 2—33), and a whole—tone scale also occurs two measures before the above passage from Chant élégiaque (fig. 4-3b). Of the first five notes in both the lydian and whole-tone scales, only the fifth note is different, and this similarity enabled Schmitt to place 292 both scales in close proximity and to create a slightly stronger emphasis on the tonic through the use of the true lydian dominant scale degree. In a shift from the whole- tone to the lydian scale, he was able to dilute the tonality with the whole-tone scale and then hint at the tonality using the lydian scale through its dominant. In addition, he avoided the rapid familiarity of the whole-tone scale in this way. In general, octatonic scales are less frequent than lydian or whole-tone scales. They usually occur in an ascending scalar pattern as we have seen in Psalm 47 (mm. 40-42 and 44..., fig. 2-24) and Salomé (fig. 3-30). The octatonic collection also forms the basic scale in the construction of some themes in other of his works from this period. In Musiques detplein air, Opus 44, an orchestral suite sent as an ggxgt from Rome in 1904, the main melody of the middle movement, "Danse désuete," is comprised of an octatonic scale. It is supported by the fully diminished harmony in the brass and harp that corresponds with alternate notes of the scale (fig. 4—4). 293 Figure 4-4 Nine measures after this passage, the sixteenth—note figure of the first three melody notes is sequenced using a different octatonic scale. 294 Figure 4—5 fin. FR 0 n _ EA. - ”J if ,._ fl ,. a. L; '1, V . to. ‘— .17 Ian —' ,_ he ”5 '47 ‘h‘v- ‘ — ' '2 W :::$7- .47 the. - 1’ “‘ "wuv‘cuiw’ltuiwiw* II > c’" ‘JF\———-’f\_/ Another example of the octatonic scale in a melody of this period occurs in the Quintet, Opus 51 (completed in 1908). The main melody of the initial movement includes two bars of an ascending octatonic scale. With the exception 295 of four notes in the lower strings (circled in fig. 4-6), the pitches of the descending melody and inner harmony parts also belong to the scale. Figure 4-6 The use of augmented melodic intervals and symmetrical scales that suggest exotic places occurs in many of Schmitt's works from his Prix de Rome years and throughout his life. In addition to Psalm 47 and Salomé, two works for military band (Sélamlik and Dionysiagues), and most of the large symphonic scores, including Danse des Devadasis (1908), Antoine et Cléopatre (1920), Danse d'Abisag (1925), Salammb6 (1925), Oriane et le Prince d'Amour (1934), and the Second Symphony (1958), contain sections or movements in which these style traits are prominent. Completed in 1906, following a trip to Turkey, Sélamlik, Opus 48, represents the parade of the sultan Sélamlik and his harem. The principle melody of 296 this band work is in the aeolian mode on G (fig. 4—7a). The final C-minor chord is preceded by a three-octave scale that contains two augmented seconds--BH-Ab and F#—Eb (fig. 4—7b). Figure 4-7a Assez anlme’ (e': 84 envimn) n when r"! 0‘} (I. H. ”5C“! 1"” 1 . \ 303.7 1 flank-$11.51!!» ' Cain-Join If Corn. \ CHLB"! Subs-Jan 8353.51 CB. 77' _ Tmnb Truffle I. 17 fltb.C1.Cl,alt.Sax. 7 9 . v50”. div. . Sub. llfidlr. 1f 'F77 p' 297 Figure 4-7b I 'I‘res anlme' I; Tum .............. ‘. l Trp.Trh.vl ji'ruui sluts“! (.9. cs... Ln mib Sun G.Clnir:. (rub, n] ._.: c: If . The solo clarinet melody of measure 17 in Dionysiagues is to be played with a "feeling of oriental nonchalance" (see fig. 4—8). In the key of C, the melody descends to the dominant by way of chromatic and augmented interval movement and returns to the tonic. The second measure ascends a tritone and settles on the third and root in a rhythmic motive that is very common in Schmitt's compositions (_Iiltg:). The harmony moves from F major F# to major. Thus, the interval of a tritone is present # melodically and vertically between the F chord and the sustained melody C (fig. 4—8). 298 Figure 4—8 an louv‘ (Le-t.) due a team: (WI: nodules" 7 .P. E In Ionv‘ (Lent) -, .b Acoo'le'm “firemen: 299 Figure 4-8 (continued) In measure 19, the descending and ascending sextuplet figures from the preceding measures are joined, resulting in a passage of more rhythmic intensity. The_rhythmic activity is increased in the next measure, and three tritones (marked in fig. 4—9) on the notes of the C major and F# major triads are highlighted. A second version of the passage at bar 17 is given a minor third higher (see m. 21, fig. 4—9) in the solo flute doubled by a solo alto saxophone. Measures 19 and 20 contain whole—tone dominant chords. A diminished fourth occurs in measure 21, and augmented seconds are found in the triplet ornamental figure of bar 24. The climax of the passage, on beat two of bar 25, consists of an accented F# in the basses against a G in the woodwinds, a technique that is common in Schmitt's works (for example, see fig. 2—2 and fig. 3—53 for similar passages). 300 The third beat of that measure contains a C-dominant-seventh # chord over an F in the bass. This is the same chord that appears at the opening of Psalm 47. In bar 26, the bass has moved a tritone to C, and a whole-tone dominant on C occurs on beat three. Using harmonic structures based on symmetrical scales, tritone movement in the melody and harmonic lines, extreme dissonance, colorful orchestration, and augmented and diminished melodic intervals over a harmony in a key different from the melody, Schmitt has created an exotic atmosphere that is typical of many of his large-scale compositions. Exotic elements occur most frequently in works that recall past events, places, or figures. With Psalm 47 and Salomé, it was the Near East in the fourth psalm verse and Herod's palace on the shores of the Dead Sea. Sélamlik commemorates the Turkish sultan, and Dionysiaques is named after the Greek God of vegetation and wine. The opening of the "Nuit au palais de la Reine" from Antoine et CléoPfitre, Opus 69 was written to recall ancient Egypt. The melody in the solo English horn contains augmented intervals and the shifting rhythms characteristic of other exotic melodies of Schmitt. Performance directions call for an ease, as if improvised (fig. 4-9). 301 Figure 4-9 3 I'd“ er. count 801. ‘ L @fimoum con ANGLMS ~ Baguette. do CYMBALES PP citesrA ‘ "Tl-é. Soul-dines Div. VIOLONS PP PP ‘30". Crush. cét‘ "I' 302 Figure 4-9 (continued) Poeorlt. . AI! DOW CeeA. “- Jfl are vog- sde vent Div. Often the first appearance of a melody or motive is marked by chromatic dissonance in the motive or harmony that clouds the tonal direction of the passage. The melody in Figure 4-9 vacillates between two notes a tritone apart, C# and CH (transposed down a fifth to concert pitch), over a # string, celesta, and cymbal accompaniment combining B and C# in major seventh and minor seventh groupings. The # augmented interval, D to E diminished fourth, Eb to B, occurs twice. Otherwise , occurs four times, and a comprised of semitone movement, at least through bar 9, the melody is constructed of an ascending line (C#-Gh) and a ' # triplet ornament of GH. Measure seven rests on E , and the second phrase of the melody begins in bar eight as the first # phrase did. From measure nine, a G is introduced, thereby 303 disrupting the already vague confines of the C#-Gh interval of the first phrase. In this second phrase, agogic stress # is given to E and D1, the notes of the augmented second found in the initial phrase. In this way, any clear establishment of tonality is clouded. Rather, individual pitches (circled in fig. 4-9) acquire agogic importance, and these pitches with the accompaniment are the only indication of tonal organization thus far in the movement. In this case, the work ends with an open fifth F#- #. Thus, the opening melody presents one note of the final chord, # C , and stresses neighboring tones of both final pitches (Dh, Gh, and E#). The work may be heard as being in F# C## with the ostinato, - , as an ornamented dominant pedal. The tonic is implied by the dominant and neighboring tones # as stated above, but no definite F statement occurs until near the end of the movement. Regarding the large tonal organization of Schmitt's works in general, the concluding tonality of a work is very much in question at the opening of the piece and is defined with increasing conviction throughout the entire composition by giving weight to those keys that the composer associates with the final tonality. Ultimately, the main tonality is presented in a basically unaltered form in the final measures. Furthermore, the gradual disclosure of the final key parallels the increase in harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic complexity throughout the work. 304 In Psalm 47 and Salomé, the listener is unsure of the tonality until the first theme is stated (in m. 5 and 10, respectively), and the tonality of the work is hinted at only in the vaguest possible way. In the analysis of these works it was shown that the concluding tonalities of the compositions (B major in Psalm 47 and E minor in Salomé) were defined throughout the work by the dominant, lowered second, and tritone scale degrees. A very characteristic style trait is Schmitt's use of a basic tonal plan that is constructed around keys on these scale steps. The final tonality is not at all frequent in the main body of the work, appearing only in the concluding measures in any indisputable authority. While the dominant is a traditional vis vitae in most tonal forms, keys on the tritone and the Neapolitan (or dominant of the tritone) scale steps are much less frequent. However, in Schmitt's works, the keys are often presented in such a way that both the tonic and tritone tonalities, representing opposite poles of the tonal spectrum, are defined by their dominants. Usually, the interval of a tritone is found at every level of a work, appearing as a central unifying interval in voicings, progressions, modulations, melody, scale and chord structure, and as a polarity of the tonic tonality. Structural use of keys on the tritone scale degree is one of the forward—looking style traits in Schmitt's output. Compositions dating from before World War I are all 305 tonal works and, as is the case with most composers of this period, Schmitt relied heavily on traditional harmonic techniques and experimented with ways to weaken the tonal structure. Occasionally, Schmitt anticipated future practice, especially in the areas of the tritone in tonal organization, very dissonant note combinations in powerful and percussive block chords, chords comprised of notes of a symmetrical scale, and rhythmic innovations. Being well-grounded in tonal composition, Schmitt attempted to extend or modernize traditional practices largely by experimenting with new harmonic structures. Even in his most advanced compositions, he never lost contact with his traditional concept of form and tonal structure. Schmitt's strong ties to traditional harmonic practices extend beyond his prominently tonal writing and overall organization using dominant—to-tonic movement. Dominant-seventh chords and authentic cadences are found in his pre-World War I compositions especially. Mediant movement in cadences, progressions, and modulations comprises his most frequent chord motion with the falling third predominant. Direct modulation, most notably by rising whole tone, is very common, and in nearly every instance the harmony is altered and enriched upon the reappearance of previously stated material. The often abrupt contrast of consonant and dissonant passages makes up the fundamental texture of passages in fast tempi. The tremendous power of 306 the music at the climax of the large works is produced by a controlled, gradual increase in the level of dissonance and texture. Within the essentially tonal framework, Schmitt _ employs many techniques that weaken the tonal structure. Extended tertian harmonies in his scores include ninth and thirteenth chords of all varieties and in all inversions, particularly with the ninth in the bass. The initial chord of Psalm 47, a flat-ninth chord with a lowered fifth, is a prime example in that it occupies a structural importance through its relationship to the keys of C and F# (the Neapolitan and dominant degrees of the tonic) in that work. Nonfunctional progressions, chord planing, and static or suspended harmony sections characteristic of the music of Debussy, occur in Schmitt's orchestral works. He carefully avoids prolonged imitation of Debussy's style by using these techniques in brief pasSages and in contrast with his more prevalent style. Through the use of pedal point, palindrome progressions, and ostinato as well as dissonance and texture, the tension in the music is increased. Among his experimental compositional procedures, the most forward-looking characteristic at this stage of his career--the extreme, violent power of his scores--is also the most memorable one. This power is the result of controlled harmonic dissonance, sophisticated orchestration, and innovative rhythmic complexities. Schmitt uses dissonant 307 extended-tertian chords, the minor ninth harmony in particular, and experimental altered chords in Salomé and, to a lesser extent, in Psalm 47. In Salomé, highly dissonant chords, containing a split third or split fifth, for example, are combined with unconventional inversions of extended tertian structures within the tonal framework. Chords comprised of notes of symmetrical scales, including the whole-tone dominant, French—augmented sixth, and other chords of the whole-tone and octatonic scales, are common in Schmitt's works. The whole-tone dominant is the most frequent chord in Salomé, and it assumes a structural function at the climax of the work (see fig. 3-52) in a similar way that the first harmony of Psalm 47 does. In Lied et Scherzo, Opus 54 (completed in May, 1910), the octatonic scale appears several times. Figure 4—10 contains a Collection I octatonic run simultaneously starting on E, G, and Db b in the clarinets, oboe, and flutes. A sustained B in the bassoon and horn completes the fully-diminished harmony formed from alternating notes of the scale. The solo horn also has the scale in bar 236 (fig. 4-10). 308 Figure 4—10 An octatonic chord exists in Légende, Opus 66, from 1918. The distinctive long-short-long motive is given in the bottom staff of the piano in measures 104 and 105 followed by the arpeggiated octatonic chord (fig. 4-11). 309 Figure 4-11 04- AA 7 brutalill Another example of all the notes of an octatonic scale sounding in one chord is found in the first section of the second movement of Schmitt's Sonate libre en deux enchainées, Opus 68, from 1919. Hailed as his best chamber music,2 this work is for violin and piano. It contains the characteristic increase in the level of dissonance to build the climax. Finally, it illustrates his careful planning of large-scale structure using keys based on the interval of the # minor at -first, but closes with the combination of D major and Ab7 tritone. The first movement is in the key of G split 5, following a polytonal passage. The second movement (given in fig. 4-12) alternates the rapid arpeggiation of two tritones, D—Ab and C#-G (circled), with six chords of 2Authur Hoérée, "Schmitt, Florent," The New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 16(1980): p. 677. 310 increasing complexity and dissonance. The climax is reached in measure 20 (fig. 4-12). Figure 4-12 7 i = J\ 0 ”~le 311 The chords are numbered in Figure 4-12 and given below the music in condensed form. Chords 1, 2, 3, and 3 transposed are formed of two chords whose roots are a tritone apart, with the lowest and highest sounding notes also forming a tritone. Chords 4 and 5 are more dissonant and lead to the octatonic chord (chord 6) at the climax. The combination of D and G# is carried throughout the movement to the very last #, and A. chord, which is a triad composed of the pitches D, G The minor third of D minor is the penultimate note, and it sounds with the leading tone to D (C#) forming a tritone. Figure 4-13 contains the final measures of the movement. The confluence of pitches from the chords of G# minor and D minor and tritone intervals are labeled. Figure 4-13 Seoul-e Sens gnu-dine ’98 u’mplnne! e! an»: expression > p l m>pétueux un peu Lenflmouv! Initial). >- fl' chnquo note In": incisive > > (flu Iris [meg fi 1' 7'i‘ MM 1' 312 Figure 4-13 (continued) 810 ' ’-"' \ «lesson ‘1” > > _ it). as As with Psalm 47 and Salomé, this work shows a tonal cohesion based on a central tonality and a polar tonality a tritone distant. The tritone is evident on every level of the work and appears in the first bar and last chord. The innovative application of meter and rhythms also contributestx>the energy of the music. Characteristic of Schmitt scores are asymmetrical and innovative meters (triple, compound triple, i?, and Z), polyrhythms and polymetrical passages, highly distinctive rhythmic motives, and the percussive use of highly dissonant harmonies or polyharmonies (particularly those composed of chords a tritone apart) in asymmetrical groupings. The scoring and orchestration perfectly support the music at all times. A general characteristic of Schmitt's compositions throughout his career that conclusively ties him to French music of the past is his reliance on classical forms. With a few exceptions (Sonate libre en deux parties enchainées, for instance), he employs simple binary and ternary forms 313 that are elaborated with long, slow introductions, which supply the melodic motives for the work that return in altered form later on or at the end of the composition. Cyclic form occurs in the Piano Quintet, Opus 51. His conventional forms usually are obvious and provide the architectural support necessary for scores of extreme length, complexity, and power. Order, equilibrium, and clarity of form mark a significant difference between his music and that of Debussy. In the first two decades of this century, Schmitt became one of the most highly-regarded French composers living in Paris. The artistic environment in Paris of that era attracted virtually every major composer as well as many lesser-known artists and students. (It was a period when music was undergoing a fundamental upheaval that reshaped the traditional doctrines of the previous three hundred years and led to the formation of new principles basic to twentieth-century music. As a composer, critic, and performer, Schmitt was familiar with the music of the main French and German Romantic composers. From the last decade of the nineteenth century, he was aware of the scores of the Russian Nationalist composers also. His studies and especially his extensive travel during the Prix de Rome years brought him in contact with a wide variety of music including the native music of central Europe, Northern Africa, and the Near East. 314 Schmitt formulated his mature style at this time and it is fully developed in the works discussed in this paper. The style is an individual synthesis of the diverse musics that he was exposed to and a personal aesthetic, which centered on an experimental approach to harmony and a primary interest in rhythm as an expressive device. While this style experienced moderate changes throughout his 60 years of creative output, the fundamental traits, as seen in Psalm 47 and Salomé, are common in his twentieth—century compositions. He never refuted his connections to the music of the past, and he was receptive and openly supportive of the new music of his contemporaries. He transferred his singular style to the composers of the next generation and remained an active and vibrant composer into the second half of the century. Schmitt was introduced to the music of the great Classic and early Romantic composers by his parents at an early age, and he discovered the music of Chopin during his training at the Nancy Conservatory.3 According to Yves Hucher, who has examined the unpublished juvenilia of Schmitt, the earliest compositions exhibit a strong, musical affinity to Chopin's style.4 Schmitt's earliest published piano scores (Troispréludes, Opus 3 and Soirs, Opus 5 written 3Landormy, La Musique Frangaise, p. 91. 4L'Oeuvre de Florent Schmitt (Paris: Durand & Cie, 1960), p.7XIII. 315 between 1890 and 1895) contain symmetrical phrases, modality, and interest in colorful harmony through the use of chromaticism, and simple ternary form, Alfred Cortet, in his extensive study of Schmitt's piano music, discusses the similarity of the imitation of the main motif in the recapitulations found in Schmitt's "Sérénade burlesque," # 5 The Opus 12, No. 2 and Chopin's Mazurka in C minor. driving rhythms and combination of four sixteenth notes and six sixteenth notes, within each f; bar of Schmitt's "Chant des cygnes," Opus 3, No. 3, recalls Chopin's F minor Etude, Opus 10, No. 9. Schmitt felt Chopin to be the genius who links classicism and modern music and the main predecessor to Wagner and Debussy.6 Schmitt's lifelong admiration for Chopin is reflected in his orchestration of the Mazurka, Opus 57, No. 3 and Valse posthume and in Schmitt's own Le chant de la nuit. Ode a Frédéric Chopin, Opus 120, for choir and orchestra. Written for the Chopin centennial in 1949, it contains direct motive quotation and paraphrase from the thirteenth Nocturne in C minor. Schmitt's connection to French musical tradition is perhaps easiest to see through a comparison of his music with that of Berlioz. In general, Berlioz's interest in large 5La Musique Frangaise de piano, Histoire des forms et des éCEIes musicales, deuxiéme série (Paris: Editions Rieder, 1932), pp. 161-199. ‘ 6Hucher, L'Oeuvre de Florent Schmitt, p. XIV. 316 forces and orchestral conception7 is the most obvious trait that Schmitt's music shares. Berlioz's interest in instrumental color and new instruments is applied in Schmitt's work. (He was one of the first composers to write for the Ondes Marten6t in his Féte de la lumiére, Opus 88, in 1936.) Irregular melodic phrasing in Schmitt's mature works is also a characteristic of Berlioz's melodies.8 Both composers use the lowered sixth scale degree melodically and as a chord root (see the beginning of The Damnation of Faust). Harmony is viewed as an expressive element by Schmitt, written for coloristic effects often to portray the mood or setting of a program or sentiment. Other characteristics of Schmitt's works that are found in Berlioz's music are: unusual time signatures, experimental rhythms and superimposition of different rhythms, Neapolitan movement, and mediant relationships. The concept of rhythmic inventiveness can be traced as a general trait of French music to the medieval rhythmic modes. Mediant relationships are found in the music of many other composers as well, including Beethoven, Reicha, Schumann, Saint-Saéns, and Fauré. The opera recitative of the Classic and Romantic period contains a great deal of movement by third. 7Schmitt composed with the orchestra as the medium in mind. In spite of a large output for the piano--nearly 30 per cent of his total works—-Schmitt viewed the instrument as a comfortable, but poor, substitute for the orchestra. 8Brian Primmer, The Berlioz Style (London: Oxford University Press, 1973), p. 43. 317 The use of an off-stage (au lointain) soprano in Salomé (see fig. 3-23) is reminiscent of the spatial 9 Off-stage concern Berlioz and others had for their music. trumpets are employed in the closing bars of Schmitt's Prix de Rome cantata, Sémiramis. Also the idea of Glory, as a French virtue, is especially evident in the popular 10 Schmitt music of the Revolutionary Period and beyond. aligns himself with this tradition by placing a major emphasis on the words ("Gloire au Seigneur") in Psalm 47. It is the only phrase that he added to the psalm text. Schmitt had a great admiration for the music of Chabrier and Fauré. He named Chabrier the originator of modern music and published studies on Fauré's compositions.11 The advanced harmonic language of Fauré and especially Chabrier served as a model for harmonic experiments of Schmitt as well as Satie, Debussy, Ravel, d'Indy, and others. As Schmitt's most important teacher, Fauré was careful to guide his compositional development rather than dictate it. 9Off-stage playing is found in Beethoven's Fidelio, Berlioz's and Verdi's requiems, the Symphonie Fantastique, movement III, and Massenet's "Dimanché soir" from Scenes alsaciennes, Pieces pittoresque, and the overture to Pfiedre. 10Primmer, The Berlioz Style, p. 16. 11"Les Oeuvres d'orchestre," La Revue Musicale, numéro spécial, X/21 (1 Oct. 1922), pp. 50-59; "Gabriel Fauré," The Chesterian, VI/43 (Dec. 1924), pp. 73-78; "Fauré," Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music, Vol. I, pp. 3864392. 318 Fauré's way of teaching composition and analysis around the piano to the group of students was rewarding to Schmitt, and he adOpted the same method in his own classes at Lyons Conservatory 21 years later. Schmitt's use of modes with the lowered seventh or raised fourth scale degree may be called a trademark of Fauré's style from the 1890's. The lydian mode with the lowered seventh is especially common in Psalm 47 (see fig. 2—15) and other works of Schmitt. His Trois valses-nocturnes, Opus 31 (see fig. i 4-3a), in particular, exhibits a strong musical affinity to Fauré's Valse caprices in their modal content, harmonic language, and melodic structure. Tonal ambiguity at the beginning of the work is another association between the music of both men. Rhythmic negation of the bar line, a predominant style trait of Schmitt, is also found in this composition. In the first nocturne, resolution of the dissonant note is delayed or suspended if it is a common tone of the following consonant chord thus creating a serenity or calm effect (see fig. 2-44). The traits that Schmitt assigned to the music of his teacher are clarity, 12 With the balance, logic, sensibility, and restraint. possible exception of the last one, these are characteristics of Schmitt's work also. 12The Chesterian, p. 77 and Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey. 319 Chabrier inspired Schmitt, Ravel, and Debussy in a different way. His nonfunctional string of seventh chords in Espafia (see mm. 85-87) and unprepared, unresolved ninth chords in "Feuillet d'album" (the fourth posthumous piece) led Ravel to credit him as the person who anticipated Debussy.13 Schmitt's use of this technique is widespread in the works before World War I (see figs. 2-24, 2-35, 2-41, 3-32, 3-33, 3-43, 3—45, 3-46...). In his review of Sémiramis, Pierre Lalo noticed the extraordinary influence of Chabrier in the harmonic progressions, orchestral timbre, 14 The contrast of thematic contour, and complexity. complex, dissonant, or thick sections of music with simple, consonant, thinly—scored passages found in "Danse des perles" of Salomé, for example, is an extension of the same trait found in Chabrier's Espafia and "Idylle," which contrasts legato and staccato markings. Chabrier's Overture to Gwendoline, which Schmitt called a masterwork that can never 15 be heard enough, contains a chromatic string of augmented triads (5 bars before 14 in the miniature score of Enoch & Cie.) that anticipates the opening bars of the "Danse de l'effroi" of Salomé (see fig. 3—33). An association also 13Ro er Delage, "Ravel and Chabrier," The Musical Quarterly LXI 4, p. 546. 14nLa Musique," Le Temp, Dec. 11, 1900. 15Yves Hucher, Florent Schmitt (Paris: Le Bon Plaiser, 1953), p. 76. 320 exists between Schmitt's innovative use of rhythm that disrupts the meter--three groups of four sixteenth notes within two 166 measures, for instance—-and Chabrier's combination of duple and triple elements (in Espafia and "Scherzo-valse," No. 10 of Pieces pittoresques). Syncopated accompaniment or accompaniment in a shifted metrical pattern is also characteristic of the music of both composers (cf. fig. 2-29 from Psalm 47 and Chabrier's Bourrée fantasque, mm. 75f). As a member of the Apaches, a society formed in defense of modern music and originated, in 1902, to further the promotion of Pelléas et Mélisande, Schmitt admired the music of Debussy, and his scores left an impact on Schmitt's music of this time. Debussy's concentration on solo woodwinds over a static string accompaniment is found in Salomé (see the English horn melody in the "Prelude," fig. 3-10), Antoine et Cléopétre ("Nuit au palais de la rein," fig. 4-10), and several other works (including Musiques de plein air, Opus 44; Etude pour le palais hanté, Opus 49; "Tristesse de Pan," Opus 70, No. 1; and Salammb6, Opus 76). Debussy's use of dissonant structures that are freed from traditional harmonic function--parallel seventh and ninth chords for example—-is prevalent also in Schmitt's music, although the direct stimulus for both men may have come from the music of Chabrier. Likewise, the non-tonic introduction, symmetrical scales and chord structures, and 321 an interest in exotic music are traits found in the works of both composers that probably stem from other common sources. They did share the characteristic of writing nonliteral program music; music that seeks to "capture the immaterial essence, poetry, or emotion" of the subject.16 In general, Schmitt's music opposes Debussy's in its rhythmic content, clarity of form, complexity, and its inclination toward full orchestral sound and intense expressive energy. Referring specifically to Sirénes, he labeled Debussy's simple repetitions and uncomplex transformation of melodic formulae a type of "musical 17 stammering" ("musique bégue"). He felt that Debussy was too independent in his particular musical language to allow healthy artistic growth since every new piece was fashioned in a way calculated to be most offensive to the 18 critics. He was not completely successful in avoiding 16Bryan R. Simms, Music of the Twentieth Century (New York: Schirmer Books, 1986), p. 191. 17F. O. Ferroud, "Florent Schmitt," La Revue Musicale XXXIX/6 (April 1, 1924), p. 14. 181bid. 322 Debussy's style, however, and his lifelong admiration of his music is clearly evident in his critical comparison of new works with the best works of Debussy.19 As with most French composers in the late nineteenth century, Schmitt revered the music of Wagner and made his way to Bayreuth to see the music dramas. This music made a great impression on the young composer, and several of his nineteenth-century compositions experiment with Wagner's harmonic idiom. "Sur l'onde," the ninth piece of Sgttt, Opus 5, in particular, is reminiscent of the progressions and melodic contour of Wagner's music. The Quintet of 1901—1908, is the last work to maintain a strong connection to the music dramas. The close thematic workmanship and thick, polyphonic texture is derived in part from Wagner's music. Schmitt's debt to Franck, a composer whose music he did not like, in spite of his youthful enthusiasm over the Sonata in A for violin and piano, is also noticeable here in the cyclic form, the extreme chromaticism, and the use of the fully-diminished-seventh chord. The latter two traits are common to the music of Wagner as well. 19He was particularly fond of La Mer claiming that he would never see anything (except Petrushka) to rival the sumptuousness and orchestral virtuosity of the second part ("Jeu de vagues") of this masterwork. See Schmitt's "Sur l'etat de la musique Frangaise au XXe siecle," La Revue de France No. 2 (1922), p. 144. 323 When Schmitt heard Parsifal in August, 1902, his enthusiasm for Wagner's music cooled. He did not regret it, 20 In Schmitt's later works, but "some new gods had appeared." no direct Wagnerian stimulus is detected. Rather, it is through the admiration of the music of two other German— Austrian composers, who took Wagner as their model, Richard Strauss and Bruckner, that the connection is maintained. Schmitt's orchestral works from Sémiramis (1900) to the Second Symphony (1958) are written for large orchestra and contain passages of extreme power and sumptuous virtuosity, that alternate with refined, light orchestration associated with the compositions of Fauré, Massenet, and Debussy. Schmitt is indebted to Strauss for his masterful use of orchestral color and great dramatic power. Schmitt's brilliant orchestration of Salomé in 1907, and the revision in 1910, reflects Strauss' orchestration in the tone poems and in his opera Salome, which was given in Paris six months before Schmitt's ballet. The music of Strauss, Mahler, and Bruckner exemplifies the integrated sound of typical German scoring, where melodic and inner voice doubling occurs between the instrumental choirs. Schmitt applied this technique often in his works and contrasted it effectively with the typical French stratified texture where each choir has a unique and separate part. 20Schmitt, "Autour de Rome," p. 409. 324 In addition to textual agreement, other connections may be found in a comparison of the Salome compositions by Strauss and Schmitt. Musical similarities are most noticeable in the composer's use of musical texture and density. In particular, complex contrapuntal passages are found at the points of climax and in association with the most dissonant sections in both works. These sections are achieved by imitation of the principle melody in the passage and through the addition of new melodic material. In these ways the composers create large masses of sound that often are organized in layers and yield the maximum dramatic effect. However, Schmitt's score differs from Strauss' Salome in its occasional and carefully placed use of this technique. In his critical writings, Schmitt attacked Strauss' work with two exceptions: Burlesque for Piano and Orchestra and Till Eulenspiegel. He admired the latter for its orchestral virtuosity, which the French composers lack.21 Strauss' Burlesque contains some of the style of Wagner in the prevalence of the diminished—seventh chord and a quote from Tristan und Isolde, but it may have been the inventive rhythmic content within a fast triple meter that attracted Schmitt's praise. The main theme divides two Zbars into three duple groups: amend 1311913413,me- 21Florent Schmitt, "Les Oeuvres d'orchestre, " La Revue Musicale X/21 (Oct. 1,1922), p. 59. 325 Schmitt used triple meters at a fast tempo and introduced duple elements for rhythmic contrast as seen in "Danse des perles" (see figs. 3-18, 3—19, 3-20, and motive "C" in 3—22). General harmonic organization in Schmitt's compositions is related to Liszt's technique of placing emphasis on individual notes or triads, rather than keys, that relate to the central tonality of the work. The advanced harmonic language of Liszt's music (especially his piano music after 1870) prefigures the music of many early twentieth-century composers, Schmitt included. Liszt's chromatic harmony involves augmented and diminished triads, whole—tone scales and chords, octatonic scales, bitriadic chords, and pentatonic figures.22 The whole-tone structures are formed as a link between chord roots a major third apart. His first symphonic poem, Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne contains chord roots separated by minor thirds and connected 23 It is by bass notes that comprise the octatonic scale. unclear whether Schmitt adopted his personal use of the scale from Liszt or Rimsky—Korsakov, who acknowledged his 22Simms, Music of the Twentieth Century, p. 20. 23Richard Taruskin, "Cheromor to Kashchei: Harmonic Sorcery; or, Stravinsky's 'An le'," Journal of the American Musicological Society XXXVIII71 (Spring, 1985), pp. 89-92. 326 debt to Liszt by specifically mentioning this Liszt's work in connection with his own tone poem, §2§EQ: written nineteen years later.24 Liszt's development of a monophonic idiom where the theme is transformed or altered to unite the work also anticipates the music of Schmitt as well as Wagner, Mahler, Strauss, and Schoenberg. The "x" motive in Salomé, for example, forms the basis of several melodies. It occurs at the beginning of the work and maintains its character- istic rhythm through various changes in mode, tempo, interval expansion, ornamentation, and elaboration. Whether Schmitt heard Rimsky-Korsakov conduct his music and that of the other members of The Russian Five at the Universal Exhibition in 1889, or by playing it while he was in Rome in 1903, or by studying and reading it at the weekly meetings of the Apaches slightly later, the music of Rimsky-Korsakov and the other Russians made an indelible impression on him. His diary from the Rome years recounts the obsessive playing and replaying of the symphonies of Borodin, Glazunov, and the tone poems of Balakirev and 25 Rimsky—Korsakov. The journal of Ricardo Vifies documents the meetings of the Apaches and specifically mentions the 24Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov, My Musical Life, tr. Judah A. Joffe (London, 1974), p. 78. 25"Autour de Rome," p. 414. 327 four—hand versions of the symphonies of Borodin and Balakirev, Tamar and Fantasie orientale (both by Balakirev), Antar (Rimsky-Korsakov's second symphony), and Stenza-Razine (sketches for an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov).26 The principal melody of the first movement of Borodin's Symphony No. 2, with its distinctive minor second and juxtaposition of major and minor third scale degrees, was the musical password of the Apaches, which was whistled to alert a fellow member of 27 the group or to gain entrance to the meetings. Schmitt's critical writings are a testament to his enthusiasm for this 28 His interest in Russian music at this period in his life. music was shared by Parisian society, whose passion for all things Russian stems from a political tie with Russia against Prussia and a visit in 1896 by Tsar Nicholas II to formalize the alliance.29 The Russian compositions that Schmitt was exposed to are marked by the appearance of the whole-tone and octatonic scales, the intervallic and harmonic use of the 26Pasler, "Stravinsky and the Apaches," p. 403. 27Ibid., p. 404. 28A brief summary of Schmitt's activities as a critic, entitled "The Ideas of Florent Schmitt," is found in Madeleine Marceron, Florent Schmitt (Paris: Ventadour, 1959), ppe 19-270 29Simms, Music of the Twentieth Century, pp. 206f. 328 tritone, brilliant orchestration, and exoticism. As stated above, Rimsky-Korsakov acknowledged his debt to Liszt concerning the octatonic scale in §2§§2 and Attgt (see the final measures of the third movement). In both cases, and regarding his use of the whole—tone scale as well, the scale was employed as an exotic embellishment to diatonic harmony.3O Richard Taruskin has shown that Rimsky-Korsakov's conception of the four-note, whole-tone chords in the second act of Le Coq d'or is tied to the nineteenth-century use of the 31 scale to connect chords separated by major thirds. While Schmitt's use of the octatonic and whole-tone scales is limited and occurs as an exotic extension of tonal practice, whole-tone chords occupy structural importance in Salomé. In this case, he has taken the sonority beyond Rimsky- Korsakov's conception of it. The tritone, present in both the whole-tone and octatonic scales, is uniformly used to represent evil and the supernatural in late nineteenth-century Russian music. Rimsky's method of alternating two dominant—seventh chords whose roots are separated by a tritone around the two notes common to both chords (C, E, G, Bb and F#, é#, C#, E) has been expanded in Schmitt's works, where, in Salomé, the chords are combined, and the interval has taken on structural importance at every level of the composition. 3°Ib1d., p. 208. 31"Stravinsky's Angle," pp. 98—99. 329 Two other techniques of Russian music that inspired Schmitt's compositions are orientalisms and brilliant orchestration. Orientalisms are found in Borodin's Second Symphony and Balakirev's 32235 and Islamey, two works that had a major impact on French composers. Sheherazade is the best—known example of orientalism by Rimsky-Korsakov. He used an Arabian melody suggested to him by Dargomyzhski as the principal subject of the final movement of éflEflE'Sz Schmitt used a Near Eastern melody in Salomé. Similarities are found in orchestral technique also. For example, Schmitt's characteristic of splitting the melody between pizzicato low strings, harp, and bassoon in "Danse des perles" (see fig. 3-16) is nearly identical in melodic contour, tempo, meter, and orchestration (pizzicato low strings, low clarinet, and bassoon) to Balakirev's Tamara (see 30 bars before rehearsal letter K in the Eulenburg score). This score contains a profusion of syncoPations, ornaments, duple against triple rhythms, and orientalisms that became common practice in the compositions of the French composers of Schmitt's generation. With Rimsky- Korsakov and Strauss, Balakirev provided the model for Schmitt's virtuosic orchestration. Similarities between Schmitt's and Borodin's music include a fondness for large 32Jacket notes for Rimsky—Korsakov, Antar (Angel SR 40230), unsigned. 330 measures or unusual meters (3, 2, and i of Borodin and g, 2, and a? of Schmitt) and the syncopation within the scherzo movement of Borodin's Second Symphony; the movement which prompted Schmitt's statement that he would trade the four symphonies of Brahms and all of Tschaikovsky, Sibelius, and Bruckner for a mazurka of Chopin or a scherzo of Borodin.33 It is not clear whether Schmitt was familiar with the music of Scriabin since no mention of it is found in his critical writings. Scriabin's music from the Poem of Ecstasy, Opus 54 (1908) makes extensive use of the whole-tone dominant (also called the French-sixth chord or V7b5).34 The analysis of Salomé in this paper shows an incredibly frequent use of this chord as a subset of the whole-tone scale, as a dramatic chord that adds ambiguity and dissonance to a passage, and as a structural device that connects the most important tonal centers of the work (E and B). The chord is also present in the music of Ravel, 33Marceron, Florent Schmitt, p. 23. 34Jay Reise has identified widespread use of this sonority in Scriabin's early compositions. The mystic chord is evolved from the French-sixth chord and retains it as the bottom four notes: C, F#, Bb, E, (A, D). Reise also traces the appearance of octatonic and whole-tone scales in his music to the nineteenth-century harmonic practices of Chopin and Liszt. See "Late Scriabin, Some Principles Behind the Style," 19th Century Music VI/3 (Spring, 1983), pp. 220-231. 331 Debussy, Stravinsky, and Messiaen where it is the central harmonic resource in the atonal idiom.35 It is apparent in listening to their music that Ravel and Schmitt admired each other's work. They shared a close friendship from the days when they were fellow classmates in Fauré's important composition class (1896). This bond is evident from the letters Ravel wrote to Schmitt while he was in seclusion for the Prix de Rome competition and during his absence in connection with the prize. H. H. Stuckenschmitt believes Schmitt to be Ravel's most serious partner in the exchange of ideas that went on for years.36 Ravel dedicated "Placet futile," the second of his Triospoémes de Stéphane Mallarmé to Schmitt in 1913. In 1934, Schmitt wrote, "Never was there more of a musician, artist, or poet than Maurice Ravel."37 There are numerous similarities in their music and some important differences as well. Both men used parallel chords and intervals, extended tertian structures, irregular meters (especially 2 and 3), mixed time signatures, octatonic and pentatonic scales, occasional bitonality, and 35Simms, Music in the Twentieth Century, p. 208. 36Maurice Ravel, Variations on his Life and Work, tr. by Samuel R. Rosenbaum (Philadelphia: Chilton Book Co., 1968), p. 36. 37Marceron, Florent Schmitt, p. 25. 332 brilliant, virtuosic orchestration techniques. Schmitt's Rapsodie Viennoise, Opus 53, No. 3 (1904, orchestrated in 1911), anticipates Ravel's La Valse (1919-1920) in melodic contour, rhythm, and orchestration. Ravel was very enthusiastic about Psalm 47. Right after the premiere, he asked Schmitt for the score and piano transcription for study. The orchestration of the work may have inspired Daphnis et Chloe and La Valse. Notably, the interest in an innovative use of percussion, harp, and celeste, and the powerful brass scoring are common traits of these compositions. Ravel's extreme clarity and elegance and his proclivity for writing short compositions, however, are traits generally not shared by Schmitt. Schmitt's association with the Apaches supplied him with an atmosphere of encouragement and served to broaden his intellectual horizons through contact with some of the most important creative artists of the early part of the century. Apart from lasting friendships with several of the members, Schmitt met one of his future collaborators, the poet Léon-Paul Farque whose texts he used in Quatre monocantes (Opus 115, No. 2, "La petit princesse") and as the basis for Réves, Opus 65. In his article on Ravel, Farque outlined the wide-reaching interests of the Apaches to include "Chinese art, Mallarmé, Verlaine, Rimbaud and 333 Corbiére, Cézanne and Van Gogh, Rameau and Ch0pin, Whistler "38 In addition to and Valéry, the Russians and Debussy. these concerns, Schmitt had a lifelong curiosity about folk song that was shared by Rimsky—Korsakov, Stravinsky, Kodaly, Bartok, and others. Apart from the Near Eastern folk song quoted in Salomé, Schmitt used folk songs elsewhere in his music and attended conventions on different folk musics.39 In his frequent and diverse traveling, he was always interested in the native music of the locale he visited. In addition to Ravel and Delage, Schmitt was very close friends with the last composer to join the Apaches, Igor Stravinsky. They met in 1909, and the correspondence that exists between the two composers attests to the strong relationship they enjoyed. Apart from Delage, Schmitt was perhaps Stravinsky's best friend at the time. In a 1913 interview, Stravinsky said, "I find my only kindred spirits in France. France possesses in Debussy, Ravel, and Florent 40 Schmitt, the foremost creative musicians of the day." He dedicated "Mazatsumi," the second of Trois poésies de la lyrique Japonaise to Schmitt and was responsible for 38"Plaisir de France," (August, 1936), p. 15 reprinted in Arbie Orenstein, Ravel, Man and Musician (New York: Columbia University Press, 1975), p. 29. 39In Spring, 1939, Schmitt traveled to Morocco for a conference of Andalusian and Berberian music. 40"M. Stravinsky on His Dislike of Opera," The Daily Mail, Feb. 13, 1913, p. 8. 334 suggesting the staging of Salomé to Diaghilev in 1912. His letters are very familiar and, on occasion, intimate (on November 2, 1911, he sent a nude picture of himself to Schmitt). Schmitt anxiously cultivated the friendship with visits, many letters, attendance of concerts together, and the dedication of Salomé to Stravinsky. He was extremely enthusiastic about Stravinsky's music--he named his house "Villa Oiseau de Feu" after hearing the Firebird--and, as a critic, was in a position to publicly support it. Stravinsky may have heard Schmitt's music as early as 1902—1908 during the evenings of music by contemporary French and German composers given at the house of Rimsky— Korsakov.41 However, his early music does not show any pronounced assimilation of Schmitt's style. It is not unusual, given his sincere enthusiasm over Salomé (see page 184 of this paper for Stravinsky's reaction), that the more innovative aspects of this score would be used in his later compositions. Stravinsky heard Salomé before November 2, 1911, probably while he was working on the first part of Le Sacre du printemps. The famous "Augurs of Spring," 42 composed during the summer of 1911, reflects Salomé 41Eric Walter White, "Stravinsky" The New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 18(1980): p. 241. 42Robert Craft, "'The Rite of Spring' Genesis of A Masterpiece," Lecture at Ohio State University, Columbus, Nov. 29, 1966, reprinted in Igor Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring Sketches 1911-1913 (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 1969), p. XVII. 335 in two ways. Schmitt created extremely dissonant chords through the combination of chords existing in two keys. He also preceded Stravinsky in the violent and percussive use of dissonance in asymmetrical grouping of expressive purposes. Schmitt's final dance of Salomé, "Danse de l'effroi," is the passage that clearly illustrates this association (see fig. 3-33). This music also contains dissonant chords constructed of tritone intervals (tritone aggregate) that are generally associated with Stravinsky's music of this time. The friendship between the two composers was severed by the 1930's, and Stravinsky never admitted any musical debt to Schmitt. In fact, he was blatantly derisive about Schmitt's Salomé (see page 185 of this paper). As is the case with Glazunov's influence on Symphonie in Eb, Stravinsky's dislike of Glazunov and Schmitt may have led him to deny any musical connection or influence.4 Stravinsky's music elicited Schmitt's comment that "Stravinsky is the Messiah for whom we have been waiting for since Wagner and for whom Mussorgsky and Claude Debussy, Richard Strauss and Arnold Schoenberg seem to have prepared 44 the path." Schmitt's music after Salomé is indebted to Stravinsky in his continued exploration of brutally 43White, "Stravinsky," The New Groves, p. 243. 44La France (June 4, 1913), reprinted in Vera Stravinsky and Robert Craft, Stravinsky in Pictures and Letters (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978), p. 612. 336 dissonant sonorities. "La tragique chevauchée" (Mirages, Opus 70, No. 2) and Légende, Opus 66, in particular reflect Schmitt's affinity to Stravinsky's music. The disjunct melodic writing of Schoenberg is also evident in Légende and in Sonate libre en deux parties enchainées, Opus 68. Sgttg en rocaille, Opus 84 (dedicated to Haydn) and Sonatine en trio, Opus 85 are examples of neoclassicism in Schmitt's later compositions. The composers and musicians who admired Schmitt and his compositions are numerous and well-documented in YVes Hucher's writings. Arthur Honegger and Olivier Messiaen are two composers whose music shows an allegiance to Schmitt's. As a student of Schmitt, Honegger learned the techniques of composing on a large scale and using harmony to achieve a powerful dramatic impact. Messiaen also enjoyed writing monumental scores. The huge orchestra required for the Turangalila Symphonie (1946-1948) contains in addition to the regular instruments, a piano, glockenspiel, celesta, Vibraphone, Ondes Martenét, and a large compliment of exotic percussion. Schmitt's Féte de la lumiére, Opus 88, composed twelve years earlier makes use of nearly the exact instrumentation (including the Ondes Martenfit). Drawing on a rich and varied musical heritage, Schmitt synthesized the musical styles of three nationalities and many composers. He assimilated certain traits of folk music and created an individual style that remained 337 relatively consistent after the composition of Psalm 47 and Salomé. His contribution in the areas of the expressive use of rhythm and harmony was passed on to the next generation of musicians. Nevertheless, Schmitt was a singular composer, neither following nor founding any school of music. His position as a music critic and French composer is unique in the twentieth century. APPENDIX LA TRAGEDIE DE SALOME l PRELUDE Une terrasse du Palais d'Hdrode, dominant la Mer Morte. — Les monts d,e Hoab ferment l’borisou, roses et roux, dominds parla masse du Mont Ndbo d'ot‘t Molse, du seuil de la Terrc Promise, salua Cbanaan event de mourir. — Le soleil est i son declin. DA NSE DES PERLES Des. flambeaux éclairent la scéne. -— Leur lumiere arracbe des etincelles aux etdfles et aux joyaux qui se_repandent hors d'un coflre pre'cieux. Hérodias, pensive. y plonge les mains, puis eléye des collters. des voiles lamés d'or. Salome. comme fascinee, apparent. se pencbe, se pare, puts, avec une joie enfantine, esquisse sa premiére danse. ll LES ENCHANTEMENTS SUR LA MER Salome a disparu. — Les tdnébres enveloppent Hérode, perdu dans des pensees de luxure et de crainte, tandis qu'Hérodias, vigilante, l'epie. Alors, sur la mer maudite, des lumicres mystérieuses s’e’meuvent, semblent naltre des pro- fondeurs. — Les architectures de la Pentapole engloutie se re'vélent confuse'ment sous les flots. On dirait que les vieux crimes reconnaissent et invitent Salome fraternelle. -— C'est comme unc "Ejection sur un miroir magique du drame ui se joue dans les cervelles du couple must, assis i ans la nuit. — La musique commente la antasmagorie demoniaque. Des lambeaux de vieux chants d'orgie, dtrangles par la pluie de bitume et de cendres, aux terrasses de Sodome et de Gomorrhe, s'exhalent confusément. Des mesures bréves de danses, des {nssons de cymbales etoufle'es. des claquements de mains, des soupirs, un rirc fou qui fuse... Une voix solitaire s'éleve. Elle monte des profondeurs de la Mer Morte, plane sur les abimes du Passe’, du De'sert du Desir. Hérode, subjugue', ecnute. Des vapeurs, i present. s'elévent de la mer. des Iormes enlacees se dessment. moment de l’sbime, vivante nuee dont suudain. comme enfantee par le trouble songe et l’antique pet-he, surgit, irresistible, Salome. Un tonnerre lointain roule. Salome‘ commence i danser. Hérode se leve. DANSE mas ECLAIRS Les tenébres totales ont envahi la scéne et le reste du drame ne s'entrevoit que par éclairs. C'est la danse lsscive, la poursuite d'He'rode. la {uite amoureuse, Salome’ sansie, ses voiles arrachés par la main du 'le'trarque... Elle est nue an instant, mais Jean, subitement nppam. s’avance et la couvre de son manteau d'annchori'te. Mouvement de lureur d'He'rode. \‘ite inter- :re‘te‘ par Herodias, dont un signe lirre Jean aux bourreaux qui l’entralnent et réapparaissent ientét. La Tétc l... Chargeam les (paules nues des bourreaux, le grand plat d‘or tsngue sous son fair. Les glaives croisés l'exhaussent, promesse i jam-is tue. vaste espoir {auche' du monde. Salomé..triomphante. s’cmpare du trophée, esquisse un pas, chargée de son funébre faix. Puis. comme touchée d'une inquiétude soudaine. comme si la voix du supplicié avait murmure’ ‘a son oreille. elle court tout i coup jusqu‘au bord de la terrasse et, par dessus les créneaux, pre'ci- pite le plateau dans la mer. Celle-ci agparait soudain couleur de sang et. tandis qu'une :erreur eperdue balaie Hérode. Herodias, les ourreaux en une de’route aflolée. Salome’ s’abat. evanouie. Salomé revient ‘a elle. -— La Teto. apparue, la fixe. puis disparait. -- Salomé tressaille, se délourne. — La Téte, en un autre point de la seine, la regarde de nouveau. Salome’ veut se de'rober. Et les tétes se multiplient, surgissent de toutes parts. Epouvantée, Salome tourne sur elle-méme pour fuir les visions sanglanles. DANSE DE L'EFFROI Comme elle danse, l’orage eclate. U'n vent furieux l'enveloppe. Des nuées sulfureuses roulent dans le précipice; l'ouragan balance la mer. 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