'n Analisemetode vir strykkwartette gekomponeer van 1960 tot 1970 met spesifieke verwysing na toonformasies

Abstract

In this study the string quartets that were composed between 1960 and 1970 are used to design a method of analysing non-tonal music which takes tone formations as its premise, while also taking into account other parameters such as rhythm, register, dynamics and texture. The following work and excerpts from works have been analysed: all five movements of Ligeti 's second string quartet, the first movement of Lutostawski's string quartet, the first thirtynine bars of Martin's string quartet, the first sixteen bars of Babbitt's third string quartet as well as opening and closing ormations of one string quartet each by Perle, Maxwell Davies, Serio, 6rown , Ferneyhough and Penderecki. It was decided to take three-note formations as a starting-point after an nalysis of the Ligeti and Lutostawski string quartets indicated a prominence of certain types of three-note formations. The segment re lationship in the identified three-note formations differs from the segment relationship in the major and minor triad because the large segment is usually larger and the small segment smaller than in the traditional triad formation. In naming these formations the mathematical Fibonacci series and other generalized Fibonacci series were appropriated because the first terms in these series represent the relation between the large segment and the small segment of the identified formations. The classification of three-note formations as tension generating (formations which contain a semitone) or relatively tension free (formations which do not contain a semitone) makes it possible to describe the build-up and resolution of tension with greater precision than is normally the case in the literature on contemporary music. The use of three-note formations linked to specific procedures that are rooted in the other parameters involved, made it possible to identify central notes in the works analysed. Prominence of the minor third was pointed out in all works and excerpts analysed. In the absence of motivic-thematic processes it may be deduced that the systematic manipulation of specific intervals and three-note formations plays an important part in the establishment of logically set up sound structures which unfold organically.