3.4 Building on identity through fragmentary repetition  (Page 2/2)

The theme of the Queen from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Suite from Le Coq d’Or is characterized by a gradually sinking contour:

The following excerpts refer to the Queen using the falling contour of her theme.

The main theme of the fourth movement of Bartok’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste has a“sawtooth”shape:

Bartok later constructs a new, more poised theme that mimics the main theme’s zig-zag motion.

The following two passages also allude to the main theme by echoing its contour.

The theme can also be identified by a rhythmic motive. Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in d-minor begins with the following melody:

The melody begins with four equal, long values. Haydn extracts this rhythmic motive and uses it throughout the movement. In the following excerpts, the texture, harmony and melodic contour all are varied; the rhythmic pattern remains the unifying feature.

The Finale of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 begins with a rousing theme:

The theme’s head motive is as follows:

Towards the end of the movement, Shostakovich strips away the melodic contour of the head motive, reducing it to its rhythm.

In Philip Dick’s futuristic story Paycheck , an amnesia-stricken man retrieves an envelope he has left for himself. Inside is a strange collection of objects:“A ticket stub. A parcel receipt. A length of fine wire. Half a poker chip.. A bus token...”What do they have to do with his life? Gradually, he realizes that his younger self had seen into the future and planted these items to enable him to escape from ruthless pursuers.“I must have looked ahead, seen what was coming. The SP (Security Police) picking me up. I must have seen that, and seen what a piece of thin wire and a bus token would do—if I had them with me at the exact moment.”From these bits and pieces, he reassembles his identity.

Fragmentary repetition is to a listener what the bag of the possessions is to Dick’s protagonist: It refreshes the listener’s memory while driving the music forward and generating suspense.

The shift from foreground to background

Protagonists are not always the center of attention; sometimes, they slip into the background.“It was pleasant and quiet, out there with the sails on the river passing beyond the earthwork...Whenever I watched the vessels standing out to sea with their white sails spread, I somehow thought of Miss Havisham and Estella; and whenever the light struck aslant, afar off, upon a cloud or sail or green hillside or water-line, it was the same.”

Similarly, in music, one way to sustain musical material is by shifting it into a supporting role.

Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 opens with a martial rhythm and an assertive theme introduced by the strings and brass.

In the excerpt that follows, Mahler isolates a fragment of the theme:

Played by plucked strings, the motivic fragment accompanies the woodwinds is an evocative passage.

We recall the opening theme of the second movement of Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet, played by plucked strings.

Midway through the movement, the theme recedes into the background: Slowed down and played only by one instrument, it accompanies a lyrical melody. Then, like someone rushing back into the room, the theme speeds up and gets louder, gradually returning to prominence.

Conclusion

Is there any one factor that must be maintained to sustain musical identity? No. We have seen examples where the melody changed, the harmony changed, the rhythm changed, the instrumentation changed. Musical ideas are very malleable.

The more aspects of the original material that are preserved, the stronger its identity is maintained. The fewer the aspects of the original material that are preserved or the more fragmentary the repetition, the farther the music moves away from its original form.

Writers create complex characters by making their behavior multi-faceted and well motivated. Through dynamic repetition , composers are able to create musical personalities with a similar suppleness and depth.