Polytonal Considerations in Selected Works of Howard Swanson

Abstract

Stratification by rhythmic and timbral differentiation has been demonstrated by Oily Wilson (1974) to be a prominent characteristic in both African and Afro-American music. In the companion article that appears on pp. 15-33 of this issue of BMR Journal, Lee Cronbach has shown that polytonality is another means through which layers of sound are demarcated in some African music and in gospel music, jazz, and disco music. Through examination of selected compositions by Howard Swanson, the present study proposes to expand Cronbach's thesis into the arena of concert and recital music by black composers. The primary difficulty in identifying polytonality in black concert and recital music as an Afro-American characteristic is that other styles of contemporary concert music also utilize polytonality, e.g., the compositions of persons such as Bartok, Milhaud, and Britten (Dallin, 1964, pp. 124147). However, if a given composition can be shown to contain other Afro-American traits, then it may be concluded that polytonal vertical stratification is also related to the black American musical tradition. Support is lent to this hypothesis by Georgia Ryder (1970, p. 225), who has stated that Afro-American folk songs have identifiable characteristics of melody, rhythm, and text that, in combination, set them apart from all other musics of the world (emphasis added). This view of the importance of musical elements being used in conjunction with one another as a criterion for the definition of the style is significant for the analysis of black concert and recital music.