Stravinsky's ‘The Flood’

Abstract

By now we are used to the tonal polarisation of Stravinsky's serial writing, but the resourcefulness with which he continues to throw fresh light on the method is amazing. In The Flood we have possibly the most overt example of his tonal twelve-note style so far, with what can be construed as an elaborate series of cadences on and around a final of C sharp. The five forms of the basic series shown in Ex. 1 illustrate what I mean, for they are used almost exclusively throughout the work. Taking the first and last notes in each case, we find a quasi tonal hierarchy outlined, with C sharp, its subdominant, dominant and supertonic. Significantly the form, O-F sharp and its retrograde which on these terms would have hinted at a flatter region are not so much in evidence. Even when cellular correspondences such as that which is obtained between notes 1–3 of O and I can be cited in justifying simultaneous presentation or continuation, we feel that considerations of cadence have really been uppermost in the composer's mind. Restriction to the five forms set out in Ex. 1 would of course have imposed too severe a discipline for a work lasting half an hour, and the way in which Stravinsky avails himself of variations is thoroughly typical. He does not utilise ‘enharmonic modulation’ by means of common cells : instead we find a standard permutation procedure in which notes 1 and 7 of a row become 6 and 12, or vice versa (Ex. 2). It is instructive that the particular forms chosen for permutation are frequently those which will yield the same cadential results as the forms shown in Ex. 1. Thus I-E as permutated in Ex. 2 is in its new form bounded by G sharp and C sharp, revealing affinities with O-G sharp as well as the more obvious I-G sharp (the shared final and almost identical shape). Ex. 3 shows one of the simpler uses of the permutation process for melodic variation and expansion. Here notes 6–12 of O-G sharp are followed by notes 6–12 of the substitute O-G sharp (permutated from O-C, with 6 and 12 becoming 1 and 7). He will also on occasion re-order to no particular plan beyond that of obtaining aural results which accord with the tonality of the stricter forms of this row.