MILTON BABBITT'S COMPOSITION FOR GUITAR:

AN ANALYTIC OVERVIEW

by

Todd M. Seelye

A Document Submitted to the Faculty of the

SCHOOL OF MUSIC
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of

DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS

In the Graduate College
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

1988
 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

SCHOOL OF MUSIC

I hereby recommend that this document prepared under my

direction by `add 141, See

entitled ft1`DI'f Qbh1 , 1 C:»1 oii iLi,1 6,r Chi.,' Q,-
c'zie, vI"e w
be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree

of Doctor of Musical Arts.

Signature of Major Professor

7-2O - iT3'Date

Acceptance for the School of Music:

. II
I
Dire c tor, uate Studies in Music
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
INTRODUCTION. , . . , . . . . . . . Oa . . . . , . a iv
CHAPTER
1, SET STRUCTURE . . . , . . . . . , , . . 1

2. BACKGROUND. . , . . . . , . a . . . 10

3. MI DDLEGR OUND. . , . . . . a . . . a . . . . 14

ü. FOREGROUND. a AO . . . , . . Oa . . a 20
5. MACROSTRUCTURE. a . . . . . . , . . . 53
APPENDIX I: CHARTS I, II . a a a , a a a a 58
APPENDIX II: ERRATA IN COMPOSITION FOR GUITAR . a
63
 INTRODUCTION

In order to better understand the context of Milton

Babbitt's output within which Composition for Guitar resides,
it is necessary to discuss some aspects of his life and style
as it has evolved over the years, and introduce terms and

concepts which will be necessary for taking in the analytical

portion of this paper.
Milton Babbitt was born in 1916 in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, and spent most of his childhood in Jackson,
Mississippi, where he was educated in the public schools. He

developed a strong interest in music very early in life and

began violin lessons at age four and clarinet at eight.1

Babbitt started composing popular songs, setting his own

words to music, while still a young boy.2 At thirteen, he

won a national song contest, and by the time he graduated

from high school, he had done such a large amount of work for
T.B. Harris Publishing Company that he "faced the choice of
serious composition or popular. "3 Although he selected
serious music as his primary interest, he apparently tried
throughout his twenties to make a career of popular

1 Deena and Bernard Rosenberg, The Music Makers, (New

York, Columbia U. Press. 1979) 40. :

2 Rosenberg: 45.

3 Cole Gagne and Tracy Caras, "Milton Babbitt,"

Soundpieces: Interviews with American Composers, (Metuchen,
N.J., Scarecrow Press, 1982): 35.
 V

composition. In fact, to this day he is regarded as a fount

of information on popular music from the 1920s and 30s.

Babbitt's father had a professional involvement in

mathematics which was influential in shaping the young man's
intellectual environment.4 In 1931 Babbitt entered the
University of Pennsylvania with the intention of becoming a

mathematician. However, he soon transferred to New York

University, primarily to study music with Marion Bauer,5

author of Twentieth Century Music.6 It was during this time

that Babbitt met Arnold Schoenberg, whose principles of

twelve -tone composition were to provide the starting point
for the evolution of the younger composer's musical
language.7
Babbitt began studying composition privately in 1935
with Roger Sessions,8 whose influence proved to have the

greatest effect on the young musician's professional career.

In 1938, when Sessions was asked to form the graduate music

department at Princeton University, he appointed Babbitt to

the faculty. Babbitt began his own graduate work at that
time, while continuing study with Sessions. He eventually

Benjamin Boretz, "Milton Babbitt," Dictionary of

4

Contemporary Music, ed. J. Vinton (New York: E. P. Dutton,

1975) : 43.

5 Rosenberg: 41.

6 Marion Bauer, Twentieth Century Music, (New York, G.

P. Putnam's Sons, 1947).
7 Gagne and Caras: 44.

8 Rosenberg: 42.
 vi

earned an M.F.A. from Princeton in 1942.9 The early 1940s

also brought the first public recognition of his efforts as a

serious composer, when he was awarded the Bearns Prize by

Columbia University for Music for the Mass (1941).
During World War II, Babbitt worked mainly in
mathematics, dividing his time between classified military
research in Washington, D.C. and Princeton, where he was a

member of the mathematics faculty. 10 The war years were ones

of thought and discovery rather than actual composition.

Babbitt speaks of "thinking through an entire style
period" 11; the discoveries of this time resulted in the

paper of 1946, "The Function of Set Structure in the Twelve -

tone System, "12 which Babbitt has described as "a compactly,
semi -formally written record of what I had been thinking
about during the war years... ".13 Although never published,
this document has been referred to by a number of writers and
is generally considered to be his first significant
contribution to contemporary music theory.
The paper is the first systematic study of Schoenberg's

compositional method. Babbitt's explication of the twelve-

9 Rosenberg: 46.
10 Rosenberg: 47.
11
Peter Lieberson, Eric Lundburg and John Peel,
"Conversation with Milton Babbitt," Contemporary Music
Newsletter (1974)
1 2. :

12
Babbitt, Milton. "The Function of Set Structure in
the Twelve -tone System," diss., (Princeton, 1946).

13 Gagne and Caras: 37.

 vii

tone system and expansion of the vocabulary of atonal music

in general has been called "one of Babbitt's major creative

achievements" by biographer and former student Benjamin
Boretz.14
Babbitt was the first to recognize the twelve -tone
system as a model of finite group structure, a topic which
has a large body of literature in mathematics. His paper

introduced the terms set to indicate an ordered series of

musical elements (e.g., pitches), prime to designate the
identity set ( "original ") and transformation to describe any
one of the four linear forms in which the set can be stated
(prime, inversion, retrograde, retrograde inversion). These
terms are borrowed from mathematics, and have analogous

meaning in the study of finite group theory.

There is considerable misunderstanding about the role
mathematics has in Babbitt's music. For him, mathematics is

useful in clarifying or bringing about various pre -

compositional relationships. About its application in the
actual act of composing, the composer has said: "I have often

been attacked as a mathematical composer, which I am not in

any reasonable sense. I have had enough mathematical

training not to misuse mathematics. But children rush to me

now because they think that I possess mathematical

prescriptions for writing music." 1 5

14 Boretz: 43.

15 "An Interview with Milton Babbitt," Music Educator's

Journal 3 (1968): 133.
 viii

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Babbitt completed

several important works. These include the Composition for
Twelve Instruments, Composition for Viola and Piano, Three
Compositions for Piano, and the Composition for Four
Instruments. The term "composition" here, as with many
titles of Babbitt's works, is a punning reference to a

mathematical concept or term also useful in describing pitch

relations (others, for example: Reflections, Dual, Images,
Partitions). Structurally descriptive titles with multiple
meanings are common in Babbitt's music: Sextets, All Set,
C^ ^respondences.. It is interesting to note that self -
reference and multiple meaning is also a basic premise of the
structuring of the works themselves. (Babbitt has become
more risque with his titles in recent years: i.e. Fourplay
for four instruments, The Joy of More Sextets for violin and
piano. Here, suggestive titles are "suggestive" in their own
right!). Babbitt writes:
I have applied the descriptive term "composition" to
many of my works in an attempt not only to avoid titles
with inappropriate "historical" and "formal"
connotations, but to convey relevant information about
the works themselves. Since the word "composition" is
used to denote the process of forming the product of
permutations, and also a partition in which the order
of parts is significant, the word is, for the first
reason, appropriately applicable to any twelve -tone
work, and for the second reason, particularly
applicable t.c my music, in which the twelve -tone sets
and aggregates are partitioned by differentiated
timbres, registers, dynamics, and so on. I might add
that I do not find the properties of abstractness and
"formalism" commonly associated with the word
"composition" displeasing. 16

16 Record notes, CRI -138.

 ix

The works of the 40s and 50s embody and demonstrate the

efficacy of the theoretical principles discussed in Babbitt's

1946 monograph. They also explore ways of structuring non -
pitch components. Babbitt considers non -pitch components to
be "determined by the operations of the (twelve -tone) system
and uniquely analogous to the specific structuring of the
pitch components of the individual work, and thus, utterly
nonseparable.i17
The structuring of non -pitch elements has provoked
controversy and misunderstanding. Babbitt conceives musical
relationships as occupying a five -dimensional space defined
by pitch, attack point, timbre, register and duration. All

are not equal, however: pitch relationships are most

important, and other dimensions are in support of pitch
relations. Here the use of "total serialization" or "total
organization" to describe this approach becomes
problematical. Babbitt has spoken of his desire to "make
music as much as it can be... "18 and has created a music with
interdependent systemic relationships, where choice is
determined by and determines systematic constraints. This
approach has little to do with the European idea of "total
serialization," in vogue during the 1950s, which used
arithmetic as a compositional device, applying essentially

17 Milton Babbitt, "Some Aspects of Twelve-Tone

Composition," Score and IMA Magazine 12 (1955) 53. :

Milton Babbitt, Words About Music, ed. Stephen

18
Dembski and Joseph N. Strauss (Madison: University of
Wisconsin Press, 1987): 183.
 X

unrelated criteria to each of the components.

These early works laid the groundwork on which Babbitt
has based his compositional career. Although his concerns

have remained basically the same, the ways in which systemic

resources are exploited varies considerably from work to

work.

Babbitt's use of serialism is to avoid the association

of tonal criteria with twelve -tone music. According to
Benjamin Boretz, "Babbitt was the first to recognize the
relativistic nature of such constructs as tonal function and
twelve -tone relations. A composition may be understood as
representing a set of empirical -rational choices out of a

vast domain of possibility." The composition can be thought

of as a "unique and complex instance of rational thought
within an empirical domain." With this interpretation, it

follows that the absence of universals "virtually

necessitates" the notion of a composition as a "total
structure. "19
Although he calls himself a post -Schoenbergian, Babbitt
has said it was Anton Webern who "first made me aware of the

possibilities of a really autonomous music that doesn't

depend upon analogies with tonal music. "20 Consequently, the

forms of Babbitt's works are intimately connected with and

expressive of the serial organization, and governed by the

19 Boretz: 44.

20 Joseph Machlis, An Introduction to Contemporary Music

(New York, W. W. Norton, 1961): 618.
 xi

transformations which the series undergoes.

Regarding the intended audience of his work, Babbitt has
acknowledged the potential difficulty for the uninitiated.
In his famous article, Who Cares If You Listen ?, which
originally appeared in 1958, Babbitt writes: "Advanced
musical concepts...are no more intended for the average man
than advanced theories of astrophysics. "21

21 "Who Cares if You Listen ?" Hi Fi 7 (1958): 38.

 CHAPTER 1

SET STRUCTURE

The basis of relations in all of Milton Babbitt's works

arise from the simultaneous statement of two or more
transformations of a twelve -tone set, arranged in such a way
that segments from these sets combine to form collections

containing all or most of the twelve pitch classes

(abbreviated pc). Collections instancing unique occurrences
of each of the twelve pitch classes are called twelve -tone
aggregates,22 those containing twelve pitch classes, but with
doublings so that less than the entire chromatic is present,
are called weighted aggregates.23

This approach to pre- composition has its roots in the

twelve -tone works of Arnold Schoenberg, who arranged set

pairs so that the complementary hexachords in each would form

aggregates (Figure 1) .

b
a . '
i

;
1

I
-o i
b to
1

Figure 1

22 Babbitt, "Some Aspects ": 57.

23 Andrew Mead, "Recent Developments in the Music of
Milton Babbitt," Musical Quarterly 70 (1984): 320.

1
 2

Polyphonic structures containing multiple statements of

twelve -tone sets (hereafter, set, unqualified, will refer to
a twelve -tone set) are called arrays.24 The number and
length of segments from these sets that combine to form an
aggregate produce a particular partition of that aggregate (a

partition is also a unit in its own right). In the above

example, each aggregate is partitioned by two hexachords.
Using the standard partition notation,25 this is a 62 type,

i.e. two segments (or strings) of six elements (here, pitch

classes) each.
Babbitt expanded Schoenberg's concept in his early works
to polyphonic statements of three or four sets, each
contributing, respectively, an ordered three or four pitch
class segment to form an aggregate (Figure 2).

Ji LJ 11 61 ±61 ) El J
i6rj.
ár e1 l ç L i r: ) ' boj
!

riirrr"-r
Figure 2
rJ

411
5
r 1

Later works, from Relata I (1965) use arrays with partitions

produced from segments of constantly varying size.

24
Godfrey Winham, "Composition with Arrays,"
Perspectives on Contemporary Music Theory (New York, Norton,
1 972) : 281.
25 John Riordan, An Introduction to Combinatorial
Analysis (New York, John Wiley and Sons, 1958).
 3

The ability of sets to four, aggregates is called

combinatoriality. The property that shall concern us here is

hexachordal combinatoriality, the property of complementary

hexachords of a set to form aggregates with an appropriate

transformation of that set. Figure 1 shows an instance of

this property.

There are only a limited number of hexachord types with

this quality. Babbitt has listed the all -combinatorial
hexachord collection classes,26 distinguished by the number
of ways each can combine to form aggregates. The term
collection class is used in this paper to refer to the class
of all collections of pitch classes of a certain type, as
opposed to collection, which will specify a unique content,
i.e. "major triad" is a collection class, "C major triad" is
a collection.
Composition for Guitar is based on a set constructed
from two complementary all- combinatorial second -order (type
B) hexachord collection classes.
All- combinatorial hexachords fulfill certain criteria.27
They: 1. map into themselves under Tn
2. map into themselves under TnI
3. map into their complements under Tn
4. map into their complements under TnI 28

26 Babbitt, "Some Aspects ": 57.

27 John Rahn, Basic Atonal Theory (New York, Longman,

1980): 117.
28 T = transposition, n = transposition level, I =
inversion.
 4

The second -order hexachord fulfills these with two values of

n, each. The properties of these hexachords is order -

invariant- -they maintain without regard to the ordering of

the constituents.
The first two criteria indicate, respectively,
transpositional and inversional symmetry. The notion of

symmetry, and the structural parallelisms it invokes and

allows, is a pervasive aspect of Babbitt's work, functioning
on many levels. In Composition for Guitar, this can be seen

as a response to the most primeval compositional building

block --the hexachord.
Figure 3 gives the forty -eight forms of the set used in
Composition for Guitar, in the standard 12 x 12 matrix

representation.

Inversion (I)
l 5E-- Retrograde (R)
Prime (P) -4 0 7 8 6 2 1 10 3 9 11 4
5 0 1 11 7 6 3 8 2 4 9 10
4 11 0 10 6 5 2 7 1 3 8 9
6 1 2 0 8 7 4 9 3 5 10 11
10 5 6 4 0 11 8 1 7 9 2 3
11 6 7 5 1 0 9 2 8 10 3 4
2 9 10 8 4 3 0 5 11 1 6 7
9 4 5 3 11 10 7 0 6 8 1 2
3 10 11 9 5 4 1 6 0 2 7 8
1 8 9 7 3 2 11 4 10 0 5 6
8 3 4 2 10 9 6 11 5 7 0 1

7 2 3 1 9 8 5 10 4 6 11 0

Retrograde Inversion (RI)

Figure 3

Integer notation, a concise way of representing

relations between groups, will be used much of the time in
 5

this paper. The mapping of integers used here to pitch

classes in the piece is C = O.

In order to better understand the nature of symmetry

relations within and among the, now, ordered hexachords of

the work's set, it will be useful to examine the partitioning
of the set by various symmetrical collections. Figure 4

illustrates the partitioning of the set by the symmetrical

(0369) collection class.

0 7 8 6 2 1/10 3 9 11 4 5

To 0 6 3 9

T1 7 1 10 4

T2 8 2 11 5

Figure 4

The two pairs of interval class 6 (hereafter, interval class

will be abbreviated I.C.) related pitch classes from each of

the transformations of the (0369) collection class that

appear in each complementary hexachord of the set are

structurally isomorphic to within transposition and
inversion. Figure 5 shows the dyadic symmetry of the
partitioning of the set into structural equivalence classes.
 6

(0 3 6 9) = Al A2 A3 A4
(0 4 7 10) = B1 B2 B3 B4
(2 5 8 11) = Cl C2 C3 C4

A1B3 C3A3 C1B1 / B4A2 A4C4 B2C2

-r--- --1---- 7---
IT10
T3 T3
IT5 T3
I T6

Figure 5

Considering the properties illustrated in Figure 4 with the

imbedded dyads above is suggestive of the segmental and
content invariance exhibited by the set.

The trichord, tetrachord, and pentachord collection

class partitionings of the set are shown in Figure 6.

Collection classes are here, and elsewhere in this paper,

represented by that collection within the class which is in

"best normal order," i.e. beginning with pitch class 0 and
having the smallest interval series reading from left to
right. Thus, the (015) collection class, while a content
group in its own right, also represents the 24 trichord
contents of this class of trichords.
 7

0 7 8 6 2 1 10 3 9 1 1 4 5
0 1 5
0 1 2
0 2 6
0 1 5
0 3 4
0 3 5
0 1 6
I 0 2 6
0 2 7
I 0 1 6

0 1 2 6
I--O 1 2 6
0 1 5 7
0 3 4 8
0 3 4 5
0 1 4 6
I 0 1 2 6
0 1 5 7
I 0 1 5 7

0 1 2 6 8
0 1 2 6 7
0 2 14 7 8
0 3 4 5 8
0 1 4 5 6
0 1 2 4 6
0 1 2 6 7
0 1 2 6 8

I = related by TnI

Figure 6

The set contains a certain amount of collection class

redundancy. However, Babbitt has constructed his set to give
the greatest variety amongst its components, based on order.
The trichord is the smallest collection capable of

identifying a particular set and hence a particular twelve -

tone transformation. In this set, there are three trichords
with two representatives each and four with one
 8

representative each. Each is ordered in the set so that no

duplications in pitch class order result in any form of the
collection, although collections are duplicated.
Therefore, any segmental trichord collection in the set
will be ordered uniquely, so a particular set may be uniquely
specified by the order of any three adjacent pitch classes
from that set. This approach to the ordering of set
trichords in Babbitt's My Complements to Roger has been noted
by Andrew Mead.29
The disjoint trichord content of the each hexachord is

noteworthy, as is the symmetrical partitioning of the set by

the trichord types contained within each hexachord (Figure
7).

An examination of the tetrachordal and pentachordal

collection classes reveals higher levels of symmetry and

collectional redundancy. There is thus a hierarchical
distinction among dyads, their subsumption within larger
collections, and the degrees of relation afforded by

segmental and content invariance. For instance, ordered

dyads can be shared by hexachords of different pitch class
content types, but larger segments are content specific.
There is also a subset of relations that links shared
trichord content within hexachords. Transformation relations
among sets with, for instance, invariant disjoint trichord
content, can be seen from Figure 7.

29 Andrew Mead, "Detail and Array in Milton Babbitt's My

Complements to Roger," Music Theory Spectrum 5 (1983): 99.
 9

T6 T2I
e---- ic--9
( 0 7 8 ) ( 6 2 1 ) / ( 1 0 3 9) (1 1 4 5)
T3

Figure 7
 CHAPTER 2

BACKGROUND

Because of the transpositional and inversional symmetry

of the imbedded tritone structure of the B -type collection

class, there are only three distinct complementary pairs of

B -type collections:

To 0 7 8 6 2 1 / 1 0 3 9 1 1 4 5 A /A1

T 1 1 8 9 7 3 2/ 11 4 10 0 5 6 B /B1

T2 2 9 1 0 8 4 3 / 0 5 1 1 1 6 7 C /C1
T3 3 10 1 1 9 5 4/ 1 6 0 2 7 8 Al /A

Figure 8

These partition the forty -eight sets into three subgroups of

sixteen each. The distinction among these is an important

element of structure in Composition for Guitar.

The disposition of set forms in Composition for Guitar

is shown in Figure 9.

10
 11

RI11 PO I8 R9 12 P6 RI5 R3
A
I11 RO RI2 P3 RI8 R6 I5 P9

RI10 R8 P5 I7 P11 R2 RI4 I1

C
P2 I14 R17 R5 RI1 I10 P8 Ru 1

IO RI9 P4 R1 P10 RI3 16 R7

B
P1 R10 19 RI6 13 R4 P7 RIO

P:2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1

R: 3 3 3 3
I:2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1

RI:2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1

Figure 9

This arrangement of set forms can be regarded as the work's

pitch background. The terms background, middleground and

foreground are useful in describing structural relations in
Babbitt's work. Although Babbitt has admitted considerable
influence from the theoretical work of Heinrich Schenker,
from which these terms derive, their use here does not imply
tonal analogs.
The disposition of set forms in the pitch background has

many remarkable qualities that contribute to the relations

projected nearer the surface, as well as accounting for the
overall form.
All forty -eight forms of the set are used, and each is
used only once. Babbitt has a preoccupation with exhausting
the possibilities of a particular domain --this has been
hinted at in the trichordal structure of the work's set, and
will appear again in various ways.
The set forms in Figure 9 have been labeled A, B and C
 12

according to the content type associated with them, from

Figure 8. If successive complementary pairs are labeled A,

Al; B, B1 and C, Cl (Figure 8) it can be seen that each set

lyne30 of the array progresses through its eight sets
maintaining hexachordal transposition and collection order,
and these are associated in pairs. In the piece, these pairs
are projected by register A:E2 -Eb3; B:e -Ebl, and C:E1- Eb2.

Lyne pairs are made of strings of combinatorial

hexachord pairs, producing both linear and horizontal

aggregates by juxtaposition of complementary hexachords
(Figure 10).

aggregate
1 1

aggregate A A l A A l -
Al A A1 A -
B B1 B B1 -
B1 B B1 B -
C Cl C 01 -
C1 C Cl C -

Figure 10

The structure of this background array is better

understood by considering the T6 relations among set pairs.
If we label columns 1 -4 (from left to right) in Figure 9 A,

B, C, and D, these relations can be diagrammed as in Figure

11, with the prime superscript designating the original at

T6.

30 A lyne is an individual string of sets in an array.

It was first coined by Michael Kassler, and is cited by
Milton Babbitt in "Responses: a First Approximation,"
Perspectives of New Music 14 (1 976) 8. :
 13

Figure 11

Thus, the pitch background can be seen to divide in half,

with invariances resulting from T6 maintaining.
This is another symmetrical relation resulting from
hexachord structure. The division into half is perhaps the
most immediately audible division in the piece, with material
in the second half treated differently, yet arising from and
reflecting what has gone before.
 CHAPTER 3

MIDDLEGROUND

The next level of structure --the pitch background as

partitioned into aggregates- -can be effectively regarded as
the work's middleground. At this level of structure,
aggregates are formed by combining segments of varying
lengths from the sets unfolding in the work; each aggregate
contains a single representative of each pitch class. These
aggregates serve as a local measure of completion, and are
meaningfully articulated on the work's surface.
The partitioning of the aggregate --the number and length
of segments that combine to yield all twelve pitch classes- -
is an important structural concern. There are fifty -eight
partition classes of the number 12 into no more than six
parts --that is, fifty -eight ways of combining no more than
six groups of elements (here ordered pitch classes) to add up
to 12, without regard to the order of constituent parts.
The set lynes have been partitioned so that each of

these partition classes occurs once, and only once. A

structure representing all the ways of partitioning

polyphonic set lynes into aggregates is called an all -
partition array.
The all- partition array representing the fifty -eight

partitions of the aggregate in Composition for Guitar is

given in Chart 1. Standard exponential notation is again
14
 15

used to give the partition type. For instance 122232, the

partition class of the first aggregate, represents 1 pitch

class each contributed by two lynes, two 2 -pc segments
contributed by two other lynes, and two 3 -pc segments

supplied by the remaining two. The all- partition array is an

invention of Babbitt's. He has noted that "no one has yet

been able to program a computer to (produce one)... every

once in a while I like to remember that I can do things a

computer can' t. "31

This underlying array can be regarded as a general-

ization of Schoenberg's hexachordal arrays. Arrays of this
type, containing 4, 6, 8 or 12 lynes, have been used in

Babbitt's work since the mid- 1960s. More recently, Babbitt

has written works employing several all- partition arrays
unfolding simultaneously.32
The partitioned aggregates of this array are partially
ordered: i.e., the pitch class order within each lyne must
maintain, but the overall linear disposition is a matter of
compositional choice.
Occasionally, the same pitch class from the same lyne
participates in more than one aggregate. Since there are
only forty -eight sets used here, this is necessary to get all
fifty -eight partitions.
Joseph Dubiel has suggested the array be regarded as a

31 Babbitt, Words: 99.

32 Mead, "Recent Developments ": 324.

 16

type of "sketch. "33 It allows for, but in no reasonable

sense generates, the surface which articulates it.

In Babbitt's practice, individual or combinatorially

related lynes in the array are projected by timbre, dynamics,
register, mode of articulation, and their compounds. As

mentioned, the three combinatorial pairs in Composition for

Guitar are projected by register. The same registrai

assignments maintain throughout the entire work. The array
can be seen, then, to account in a general way for registrai
progression in the piece.
There are a number of interesting features of the array
when considered in this light. Register is localized for
longer spans in the second half of the piece, beginning with
aggregate 30, owing to the location of longer set lynes
within individual partitions in that section. Areas of
activity within a single register in the first half are
produced by two segments from the same combinatorial pair.
The mid -point of the work occurs between aggregates 29-

30.

29. 30.
4 9 2 7 6 8 0 1

7 8 3 4 9 11 5 10
0 5
3 2
11 6
1 10

Figure 12

33 Joseph Dubiel, "Thick Array /Of Depth Immeasurable:

Some Questions about the Music of Milton Babbitt,"
unpublished essay, 10.
 17

This is a conjugate partition relation, the number of

elements in the columns of one equal to those of the rows of

another. In registrai terms, what was activity in all

registers is replaced by activity in only one register. This

vertical -horizontal structural parallelism has a correlate in
the vertical and horizontal combinatorial relations of the
set's hexachords, and is suggestive of the two halves of the
work's relation to a single center of symmetry --one being to
the other as the other is to the one.

There is another interesting and telling aspect of this

area. The bottom dyad in aggregate 29 is formed from the
last pitch class of R1 and the first pitch class of P10. The

e nding of one section contains the elements of the beginning

of another, and vice versa. It is also significant that the

e nd of one set and the beginning of another is subsumed

within something new: here, an aggregate. There are many

o ther examples of a concern for end -begin relations in the

work.
The relation of the musical surface- -those elements
which serve as conveyors of local continuity and progression -
-to the deeper levels of structure in a composition appears a

central concern of Babbitt's. The foreground reflects and is

eflected by the middleground and background. This engenders
the high degree of what the composer calls "contextuality" --
those qualities that arise from the unique structural
premises of the work, and that give it a depth of structural
 18

uniqueness.
The self -referential character of Composition for Guitar

operates within and among many levels of structure: the

piece is, quite literally, about itself. Babbitt has written
of his concern for how a piece progresses through time, how
information accrues.34 Throughout the work, relations that
find aural fruition locally also serve as conveyers of other
more global progressions, and function in at once
retrospective and predictive ways. As the piece unfolds,

musical relations accrue histories of past associations, and

use old ways of functioning in yet new ways, reflecting the
past, but with a new twist.
This way of working has its base in, again, a creative
reaction to the representational power of the twelve -tone
system, and a concern with the levels of distinction between
that which represents and that which is represented. It is

interesting to note that structural isomorphism and self -

referential systems are also central to much of the thinking
in artificial intelligence research, and apparently play a

considerable role in human thought processes.35

Elements having symmetrical relations can be construed
as (informally) structurally isomorphic to within the

transformations of the system which contains them. Although

structurally the same, they can be used to represent many

34 Babbitt, "Responses": 19.

35 Douglas R. Hofstadter, Metamagical Themas: Questing

for the Essence of Mind and Pattern (New York, Basic Books, 1985).
 19

different "things" depending on context. For instance,

endings and beginnings are time induced phenomena, context

dependent, yet structurally the same around a center of
symmetry. There are many instances of structurally analogous
relations functioning in this way in Composition for Guitar.
 CHAPTER 4

FOREGROUND

In order to understand the syntactical premises of the

work, the opening three measures will be examined in detail.

This opening music presents an extraordinary wealth and depth

of information, and gives the modes of transformation and

articulation that the auditor needs to take in the work as a

whole. It is impossible to discuss this music in ways other

than that which resemble the music itself, which is always
going in many directions at once, and taking off on seemingly

unrelated tangents, to develope this or that idea. It will

be necessary to make several passes through this music, in

order to better grasp the layers of structure it contains,

and give an idea of the extraordinary detailing of every
aspect.
Figure 13a illustrates mm.1 -3, accompanied by an integer
representation (Figure 13b) showing how the set lynes are
composed out in the piece, and other information. Some
general qualities are immediately apparent.
This opening section spans two aggregates; it has the
character of an opening statement --loud, declamatory. The
boundary between aggregates 1 and 2 is articulated agogically
and by the re- registration of Ab, occurring within the same
G -Ab dyad. The ending of the second aggregate is
unequivocally accomplished with a reiterated (Eb, Db)

20
 l 64J
3 = -,
r 3eP -, r-

Aggregate: (1.) (2.)

hexachord A RI 11 6 7 7 7 0 2 2
content A I 11 11 4 3 3 5 9 10
type: C P 2 2 9 10 8 8 4 4 3 4 4 4 3
C RI 10 5 6 11 11 11 1

B P 1 1 8 8 8
B I 0 0

Dynamic: f mf ff P
Aggregate: 44 40 41 13 43 40 41 33 48 18 19
Set: I10 R6 RO R13 R6 P10 RI5 I9

N
Figure 13b
 22

simultaneity, separated from the ensuing music by a rest.

The first phrase, ending with Bb, unfolds all twelve

pitch classes, suggesting this unit as a local level of

completion at the onset. The partitioning by rests into one

4 -note and one 8 -note group is important, and will be

discussed later.
The overall linear succession is from segments formed

from different pitch classes contributed by different lynes

of the middleground array. These foreground linear segments

are from forms of the work's set, and are articulated here

and throughout the work by rhythm, rests, register, dynamics,

timbre, and their compounds.

For instance, the four note motive that begins the

piece, articulated from the following music by a rest, is a

segment from I10, located in aggregates 40 -41 in the

middleground array. The next segment (4 7 8 0 2), is from

R6. This is separated from (9 3 10) by the as yet

unprecedented duration of the pitch D. The aggregates in the

middleground array that contain these segments within their

constituent lynes can be located in the array chart.

There are correspondences between set, hexachord and

aggregate boundaries in the array and the articulations of

the surface segments from which they are derived; the slurred

Gb -F corresponds with the end of a set within the parent

partition; the G -E simultaneity articulates the interval

between complementary hexachords (the unique occurrence of

this interval in the set). The Ab -C corresponds with the dyad

 23

that begins that string in the next aggregate.

The second part starting on the last quarter beat of

m.1, begins with pitches used before, in the same octave

location, and mimics the rhythm of the preceding trichord.

Here is the first unambiguous statement of a general

operating principle -- something old with something new, and
vice versa. The beginning of the second aggregate is

projected in much the same way: old pitches, old segment, new
register, new aggregate, etc.

As the piece progresses, other modes of differentiation

reflect array location of the surface segments.
Rhythm also is connected to the array location of the
surface segment: there is a direct correspondence between
the string length in the parent aggregate and the subdivision

of the quarter note pulse which articulates the surface

segment. The first 4 -note segment is from a 9 pc string in

aggregate 414; this is reflected in the local subdivision of

the quarter note into 9 parts. The next 3 -note group is from
an 8 pc string; the local subdivision divides the quarter
note into nine parts; the next 3 -note group is from a 5 pc

string, the subdivision of the quarter note is into five

parts, and so on.

Segment location within the string is projected by rests

taking the place of those pc not used, or the preceding notes
being tied through these, using the appropriate subdivision.
For example, a 3 -pc surface group from the third, fourth and

fifth pcs of a 7 -pc string would be articulated on the third,

 24

fourth and fifth thirty- second subdivisions of a septuplet.

Therefore, an analogous situation maintains between the
aggregate as a unit of harmonic rhythm and durational rhythm.
Throughout the first half of the piece, to aggregate 30, the
middleground partitioned aggregate is durationally equivalent
to one quarter note (this assignation varies in the second
half of the piece). There are yet other analogies of this
sort between various units of progression; these will be
discussed later.
Rhythmic subdivision is used in this way to reinforce
pitch relations and array locations, as a sort of "guide" to
moving about the array. The perceptual relationship involved
is perhaps tenuous, but there is a specific aural result:
segments from long strings, yielding more confined registrai
activity are, on the surface, rhythmically faster than
segments from short strings.
One of the first things to strike the listener in the
opening music are the phrase endings and beginnings. The
first 4 -note unit ends with a descending half step, from Gb-
F, articulated with a slur, and separated from the following
music by a rest. The next group begins by continuing this

half step relationship, with the chromatic upper and lower

neighbors of Gb and F articulated as a simultaneity.
This also introduces the "inverted" half step relation

between G -Ab. This 8 -note group is heard to end with

another, this time registrally projected ascending half step
relation, from A -Bb, followed by a rest.
 25

The next subdivision (end of m. 1) begins with an old

half step relation, G -Ab, in a new rhythmic and harmonic

setting. The Eb3 "ejected" from the preceding trichord

reappears, and gains aural prominence through duration (the

longest yet, on the highest pitch). This serves to

articulate the aggregate boundary, as noted.

The second aggregate begins with the "inverted" half

step G -Ab (first heard to begin the second motive of the
work), in the same rhythm and contour of that motive, but

with something new and unprecedented: re- registration of a

pc - -here the Ab.

The local segment G Ab Ab C D that begins m.2 is here

articulated with the same rhythm and contour as in aggregate

1. The registration differs; this brings into relief a half

step relationship hinted at in the opening music: Eb -D, both

of which here gain prominence from registrai proximity and

duration.
The 3 -note group under the undecuplet introduces the
first new dynamic marking. The F -F dyad that begins this

group also ended the beginning 4-note phrase (in retrograde).

The neighbor -tone idea from m.1 carries through: F -F -E.

The origins of this chromatic "filling in" here can be seen

by following the registrally fixed G2 to measure one, where
it participates locally and registrally in this event. In

m.2, it participates registrally, the normative already

established in m.1. It is notable that the pitches that

begin and end this process in m.2 (G, E) sound as a
 26

simultaneity in m.1.
The group under the quintuplet figure begins with
something old, the I.C. 1, half step "motive ", this time as a

seventh outlined by new pitches, and a new (and loudest yet)

dynamic. This figure also ends with A -Bb (see end of second
motive, m.1) projected by temporal proximity and register.
The 5 -note group is heard as the climax of this section.

It is important for many reasons and is central not only to

this opening music, but the entire piece as well. Although
this all goes by quickly, one learns how to listen for what
is important, and this figure has many unique characteristics
that separate it from what has gone before -- oblique motion

counterpoint, longest string of equal -value notes, loudest

dynamic. It also has much in common with what has gone
before.
Viewing this area in light of the prominent half step

relations, a number of important qualities become apparent.

The entire progression in mm.1 -3 can be reasonably seen

in terms of chromatic "filling" and neo- Schenkerian

prolongation. Indeed, this accounts nicely for some of the
most audible aspects of this passage (Figure 14).
 27

a
,
e l- -
,0-

6 I
e"

Figure 14

These are very prominent levels of structure in the

opening music - -a progression that employs referential
normatives, evolving from what has preceded, yet always
varied and at once retrospective and predictive, using subtle
rhythmic, registrai, dynamic, and articulative inflection.
To recapitulate the most recent pass through this music:
1. Presented local relations are seen to function in
similar ways (to within various structural dimensions) over
longer spans.
2. Material accrues information as piece unfolds, and
evolves from past associations.
3. The use of half step relations in significant end and

begin ways is important.

The basis of r-:otivic half step relations lie within the

structure of the work's set. Pitch classes that begin and

end the first hexachord of, for example, PO are one half step
apart. This hexachord also ends with a dyad whose interval
is a half step. The complementary hexachord in the set ends
 28

with a dyad whose interval is the half step, also. The above

is, of course, true for all transformations of the set. The

articulation of the boundaries of these harmonic units has

significance on the work's surface. The (0 1 2) trichord can
be seen to "catalog" these half step relations, within a

hexachord. It is noteworthy that the (0 2 7) collection

class functions in an analogous way for pc related by
interval class 5.

0 7 8 6 2 1 / 10 3 9 1 1 5

T6

1
6 2 0 8
-:1-T(-)- 7 / 4 9 3 5 1 0 1 1

(0 1 2) (0 2 7)

Figure 15

The (012) and (027) collection classes can link other

collections through invariant qualities. For instance, since
both these collections share pc with the disjoint trichords
of their respective hexachords, these collections can be seen

to link other, different collections.

Since both these sets are inversionally symmetrical,

there are only twelve different content types for each in all
the transformations of the set. Each content type is
associated with a particular hexachord content area, thus the
three registers in the piece will present a subset of these
content types unique to that register. Also, since both
collections are hexachord specific (only one type is found in
 29

each complementary hexachord) they can be used to project

references to hexachord classes, i.e. the hexachord with
disjoint (015) trichords --which contains the (012) type, or
the one with disjoint (016) trichords, which contains the
(027) type.

There are yet finer levels of distinction within the

articulated surface. The use and disposition of the opening

4 -note segment is significant in many ways. Considered as a

4 -note "motive ", its compositional deployment -- separated from

the following by rests, and change in rhythm and texture- -
suggests a seminal, generative function. This is entirely
the case, but this aspect will be kept on ice in order to

consider the more local ramifications of this group.

The C -B -Gb -F succession which begins the piece, and
ends its parent set in the array, can be partitioned into two

different interlocking trichords (Figure 16). The C -B -Gb

group, a (0 2 7) trichord type, is projected in the music by

temporal proximity, rhythm and articulation ( the note slurred
to on the guitar is played by plucking with the left hand, as
opposed to normal right hand articulation, and is
inflectionally weaker). The other, projected by register,
contour, and temporal proximity, is the B Gb F segment, an ( 0

1 6) type, both important in the ensuing music.

C -B-Gb-F (C -B-Gb)(B-Gb-F)
Figure 16
 30

Both of these trichords are also partitioned in

meaningful ways. A registrai leap separates C from B Gb,

and the slur partitions the other trichord (B Gb)F and B(Gb
F).

The partitioning of these trichords obviously affects

the surface disposition of the 4 -note segment that subsumes
them.
The local function of the slur is notable: the Gb

slurred from ends the (0 2 7) chord, the F slurred to ends

the (0 1 6) chord. This is not only locally important but

predictive of many things to come. There are corollary end -

begin symmetrical relations among contour and register, as

well.

L = Low
M = Middle
H - High L
L

Figure 17

The partitioning of the segment (1 11 6 5) into its

constituent conjunct trichords, and their in turn registral
and articulative partitioning can be seen on one level to
reflect the structure of the set from which this surface
segment is derived, and the array location.

(0 8 1 11 6 5
Figure 18
 31

Figure 18 illustrates the last hexachord in I 10. In

the work's set, I.C. 2 uniquely separates the two disjunct

t richords within each complementary hexachord. In this set,

the interval is formed by pcs 1 and 1 1 , between two (0 1 6)

t ype collections. The dramatic registral leap between these

pcs reflects this. This interval is important throughout the

piece in projecting sectional divisions of various kinds,
usually associated with the location of different trichords.
The slurred Gb -F associates the terminal pitch classes
o f I10. This dyad also ends a string within the array (where

t he 9- member string is continued with another set). Slur

indications elsewhere in the piece have analogous end -begin
functions (Figure 19) .

i
e

WI . 1 . 8 nil. lb w,. IS .33

R-1 ci;sc.rec }' dyod.s

Figure 19.

There are many other referential and predictive aspects

of this -note segment as articulated in various dimensions.
4

These will be brought out presently, but first a look at

local ramifications is in order.
The E -G dyad that begins the second phrase in m.1 and
 32

continues the music has already been seen to relate to the

chromatic "filling" in m.2. An examination of the local (0 1

2) collections shows that these pcs have the same structural

relationship within these two collections. The two pitches E

and G function over different spans in the music, and with

different end -begin functions within the linear and
horizontal domains.

rn .

Figure 20

The I.C. 3, sounded by the E -G dyad, is the only

interval not included in the B hexachord; consequently, it is
the interval of transposition and separation between the
set's two complementary hexachords, and uniquely occurs in
the work's set at that point. It is noteworthy that this
interval occurs here, unambiguously as a simultaneity, at the
interface of the first two phrases. It is also noteworthy
that the material here is from a different hexachord area.
The E -G dyad serves another local function: it

articulates the interval of transposition between the two

combinatorial hexachords unfolding in the top register. The
sets which contain them are R- related, so it follows that
 33

this also reflects the interval of transposition between set

complementary hexachords, here in the horizontal.
The E -G dyad also has an analogous relationship between
the surface and within the set in the array from which these
pcs derive: there, the separation of hexachords occurs within

the array.
The C -Ab simultaneity -- derived from the same set,
signals the location within a new partition in the array- -

just as the E -G dyad simultaneity projected a boundary

between linear surface motives.
The first 12 -note statement (and the second pitch group)
ends with an A -Eb -Bb segment, partitioned to emphasize the A-
Bb voice leading. This segment also ends the first hexachord
in its parent set in R13 in aggregate 13 in the array.
The contour of this ending segment (up -down) is the same
as the contour of the opening three notes of the piece.
The relationship of the (0 1 6) trichords that end the
first two phrases is especially audible. They parallel each
other in collection class type and function similarly in
terminating sections. Here a new dimension in structural
parallelism is involved - -that which maintains between
collections (Figure 21a).

T4

(11 6 5) -->(3 10 9)

Figure 21a
 34

By labeling trichord pc A,B,C according to their

structural role within each collection, the symmetrical use
of structural identity in shaping the endings of both these
phrases becomes apparent. In addition, since these trichords
are ordered differently, maximum variation in interval series
is obtained, under the constraints of the set.

(11 3) (6 10) (5 9)
A B C

(1 1 6 5) (9 3 10)
A B C C A B

contour: H M L L H M

interval succession: 5 1 6 5

Figure 21b

The B -Ab -Eb segment that begins the next music, and ends
the first aggregate, is the first linear foreground statement
of the (0 1 5) collection class. The new collection type is
articulated by "old" pitches --notes that have occurred before
in the same octave location. The I.C.3 from pitches Bb and G

spanning the rest between segments is again significant- -here

it spans the end of one unit and the beginning of another.
This break into new territory is further reinforced by

the boundary trichord types (0 1 6) and (0 1 5)- -those that

are associated uniquely and disjointly with the set's

complementary hexachords.
The G Ab Eb segment completes the set that contains it,
 35

in aggregate 43 in the array.

The advent of the (0 1 5) collection is not completely
without precedent. It has been foreshadowed in many ways
within other successions in the first two groupings (Figure
22).

Figure 22

Notably, all the pcs that make up this segment have

participated in various dimensions in other (0 1 5) types,
the pcs within which have participated in yet other,

different collections. It is here that the vast array of

inter -connectedness that manifests in every dimension in
Composition for Guitar really begins to become apparent.
The boundary between the first and second aggregate is

formed by the pitches Eb on the former side and G on the

latter, framing the interval of 4 semitones. The Eb -G dyad

recalls the earlier Ab -C simultaneity, both structurally and
in parallel function, within parent set and local detail.
 36

T7
collection: (8 1 0) (3 8 7)

register: M L H H L M

Figure 23

As mentioned earlier, the re- registration of the Ab is a

dramatic introduction of something "new " --the new aggregate.

This occurs in an old context: the local segment G- Ab -C -D is
an (0 1 5 7) type collection, related by T1I to the opening

(1 11 6 5) collection.

T1I
(1 11 6 5) >(0 2 7 8)

Figure 24

The mf dynamic is the first new dynamic indication. It

occurs with a collection that has been used, in whole or in

part as (0 1) or (0 2) collection class dyads, to delineate
sections. The F -F -E segment has a begin function in the
parent aggregate 33 in the array --it begins the string in
that aggregate.
The "ff" quintuplet figure is the high point of the
subsection which spans the first 3 measures. In many ways,
the figure here summarizes what has preceded and foreshadows
future events. It is introduced in by now what has become a

familiar manner: new dynamic, old initial pc, new collection

class, old collections, etc.
 37

The collection can be partitioned into one (0 1 5 7)

type and one (0 1 2 6) type collection, which are the only

tetrachords contained within the set. Since these can be
further partitioned into all the trichord types contained in
each complementary hexachord, this group can be seen to
"summarize" the hexachordal harmonic possibilities.

(0 1 2 6)

4 3 11 9 10

(0 1 5 7)

Figure 25

This segment begins and ends the string in its parent

partition.
On the surface of the piece, this segment is partitioned
to yield all possible trichords contained within it that are
members of the set's disjoint hexachords.

(0 1 6)
1
I I

4 3, 111 9 10
(0 1 5) `- ' (0 1 2)
(0 2 7)
I I I

Figure 26

Many of these collections and collection classes have been

prominent in the preceding music.
This segment also makes explicit relations that have
been implied by the preceding material on deeper structural
 38

levels just as the F -F -E segment that immediately preceded,

was the first foreground statement of an (0 1 2) type
contained within set lynes in aggregates 1 -2. The E -Eb dyad,

here a linear segment, is contained within Ill in m.1; so

also is the simultaneity E -B. Conversely, this area implies

relations that have previously been explicit: the (6 11 1)

collection, beginning m.1 as a linear surface segment, here

appears as a segment in RI10.
There is also an old collection (3 9 10), here
registrally projected, which ended the first statement of all
12 pcs, appearing in a new ordering and partitioning, but

with the same function within a section: ending.

The (0 1 2) collection class that closes the first
subsection (mm.1 -3) has surfaced in various ways throughout
mm.1 -2. A catalogue of the previous surface groupings of
this collection class shows their relations implied by other

relations among surface groupings (Figure 27).

Tit

Figure 27

Having looked at some of the ways patterns are formed on

the surface of Composition for Guitar, the next consideration
 39

is the underlying levels of structure from which they arise,

and the implications for moving into other areas of the work.

Both transpositional and inversional symmetry play an

important role in relations on the surface and in the
background. The (6 5) and (9 10) dyads that prominently
ended the first two phrases in m.1 have two degrees of
symmetry, and map into each other under T31, and T4.

(6 5)

T4

(10 9)

Figure 28

It is interesting that these intervals of transposition

are articulated by the simultaneities in m.1.
Figure 29 illustrates the location within the first two
aggregates of structurally significant dyads maintaining
these relations. There are many symmetries induced by
parallel end -begin relationships.
 ,
Z T,
IT?
40

i r

Ty

w+,2
Figure 29

Another symmetrical relation central to many aspects of

this piece is ToI or inversion around pc 0. The first
trichord collection in the piece, (1 11 6) maps into itself
at ToI (the only content of this collection class to do so).

T°I
(1 11 6) (11 1 6)

Figure 30

Figure 31 shows the location of T0I- related dyads:

i 6

Figure 31

The sets I 1 1 and P 1 are also inversionally related by ToI.

 41

The dramatic leap between the C and Bb that begins the piece
articulates the first pc of each of these two sets.
In order to better understand the use of inversional and
transpositional symmetry, it will be helpful to examine an
invariant relationship that lies behind much of the surface
in mm.1 -3, and is used throughout the piece in various ways.
The first two partitions of the underlying array, taken
as a unit, can be seen to contain significant collections
within the constituent lynes.
The 4 -pc segments in RI11 and RI10 are the (0 1 5 7)

type, a collection shown to have importance on the work's

surface.
The two hexachords contributed by Ill and P2, however,
have the most compelling significance in shaping this
passage.
These two hexachords present the same trichord
collection classes. The relation between hexachord content
areas is T2, and the sets themselves are related by T1I. The
T1I relation of the (0 1 5 7) tetrachords that open the first
two aggregates seems to reflect this.
Figure 32 shows the invariant relation that exists
between the two. Each presents the I.C.1 dyads of the other
at T6. Since the relationship of the disjoint trichords
within each hexachord is T6, each ordered pc within one
trichord will have the same structural function as that of
the pc occurring in the same position in the other. The dyad
pairs will have the same structural identity within the
 42

hexachord. There are, then, two pairs of two mappings which

maintain invariant dyads in this location. The returns of
this invariant in other areas are very dramatic, and function
as guideposts within the work.

Ill (11 4 3) (5 9 10)

P2 ( 2 9 10)(8 4 3)

Figure 32

The trichordal segments within which the dyad invariants

reside are the (0 1 5) and (0 1 2) collections.

11 (4 3 9 10
T
(0 1 2)
(0 1 5)(0 1 5)

Figure 33

Considered in light of the structural identities which

maintain between these two dyads, a considerable amount of
deeper structural isomorphism in surface details can be seen,
in addition to that already mentioned or implied.
An idea of the potential of these relations can be
gathered by examining the parallel function of the pcs 1 and
3 that respectively begin and end the first aggregate, and
then end the second aggregate, and first subsection, as a

simultaneity.
From Figure 34, it is apparent that each functions
identically within significantly projected segments that
 43

contain them. The concluding simultaneity reflects the

transpositional distance between the two registral set pairs

so important here.

Figure 34

There is another immediately apparent isomorphism here.

Pitch classes 2 and 1 in the final trichord have the same
structural identity within their respective (0 2 5 7)

collections within linear set lynes.

The invariant relationship between I.C.1 dyads related
to T6 continues in m.4, in the third aggregate (Figure 36).
The projection of the dyads (9 8) and (3 2), this time
within a single set, evolves from a synthesis of
transformations and progressions within the earlier music.
The inversional symmetry around C between Ill and P 1 ,

projected at the very beginning by the dyad (1 1 1) , becomes a

little more clear in its ramifications: the dyads (9 8) and

(3 2) are the inversional reflections, around C, of (4 3) and
(9 10) , the prominent invariants of mm.1 -3. The relations of
 _ _
4
PP('

,..._ 3J
3=
.
44-

----,

6J)
P«

Aggregate: (3)

10 10 10 10 1

(9 8) 7 7 3 2 11
0 5 4 6 6 6
Dynamic: ppp ff p ff ppp
Aggregate: 7 8 50 15 18 50 2
Set: P1 RI4 18 R14 RI10

Figure 35
 45

these dyads form a closed group.

(4 3) ( 10 9)
TT>
TT;
(8 9 (3 4)cT6)(9 10)- 2 3)
TI 1z
( Li 3 )< T' ( 9
T,.r

8) HT6
( 3 2)1?-4(
j-T-I
9 )

(8 9) (2 3)

Figure 36

There is an analogous function in delineating boundaries

between these invariant dyads and pitch classes 1 and 3. It

was seen that 1 and 3 first functioned as terminal boundaries

for a unit (the aggregate) , and then functioned, as a

simultaneity, to signal the close of another aggregate (and

subsection).
Just as the aggregate functions as a horizontal measure
of chromatic completion, the registers within which set pairs
are articulated form another important structural boundary.
The partitioning of the E -Eb octave space by (3 4), (9 10),

(2 3) and (9 8) is shown in Figure 37.

4 5 6 78 10 11 0

Figure 37

There are several notable aspects of the third

 46

aggregate. The tied -into half note is an unprecedented

duration, introducing another way the middle -ground array

structure is presented on the surface. An examination of the

array chart reveals this pitch G located aggregate 15; that

lyne is picked up again in aggregate 18, with the two

aggregates in between receiving their Gs from other sets.

Since each partition projects its segments within the

temporal span of a quarter note, the half note here reflects

this "gap ". Where this situation obtains in the second half

of the piece, the note is played "tremelo" for the duration.

Aggregate 3 is symmetrically partitioned by dynamics:

ppp ff p ff ppp

It begins and ends with (0 2 7) trichords, and instances the

first endings of hexachords within set lynes. Pitches D and

Bb end the first hexachords of Pl and Il1, the ITo related

sets that began the piece with C and B. Pitches D and Bb

have had a number of significant end and begin uses so far;

here they end a short surface segment. These two hexachords

begin the next music, with an important new twist on an old

invariant manifesting: pc order invariance between endings

and beginnings of hexachords. Here, the contributions by

each of C and B are reversed. Pitch F is contributed by IO

to produce the first instance of a retrospective surface
segment, derived from the F -B -C string in aggregate 2, and

having reference to the surface segment at the very beginning

 47

of the piece.

It is important to consider how the ending of this basic

unit - -the hexachord --has been set up by references with past

associations, both on the surface and within the deeper

structure. Besides those devices mentioned, the Bb is

associated with pc 2 in mm.2 -3, and separated registrally

during its appearances in the ensuing music. At that point

where it makes its last appearance -- articulating a hexachord

boundary --it is again associated with pitch D, this time from

a different set and with a different "meaning." The device

of beginning and ending a lyne within the same harmonic

environment is used extensively in Composition for Guitar,

most often associated with beginnings and endings of sets or

hexachords, both of which always initiate something new --be

it a dynamic, rhythm, etc. Climactic areas are approached by

extensive use of this device.

At this point, having catalogued a number of the ways

and means by which the piece moves through time, it is

necessary to backtrack to the opening measures, to consider

aspects that were glossed over in previous discussions and

that will lead the way to larger sectional divisions.

The partitioning of the middleground aggregate by the

contributions of different, uninterpreted set lynes is a

fundamental aspect of the piece. So, too, is the

partitioning of the set lynes within each aggregate, forming

segments on the surface. Other levels of partitioning are

important, also, and a look at the ways these function in the

 48

first three measures is suggestive.

It has been suggested that these opening measures are

seminal in many respects. Babbitt is providing information

on how the piece "goes " --what collections are important, what

transformations generate them, how sections are delineated,

etc. The partitioning of these two aggregates in terms of

number of surface segments, attacks within significant units,

and the dynamic markings which further partition these all

have correlations with the larger sectional divisions within

the piece.

The surface details in mm.1 -3 have their array origins

in, as a linear succession, eight different set lynes. Since

these are articulated in meaningful ways on the surface,

mm.1 -3 are heard to divide into eight units. This number has

significance elsewhere as a definer of sections: the pitch

background of the work divides into eight linear sections;

the last eight partitions of the middleground array are

markedly more uniform in segmental content that those

preceding, producing an abrupt change in surface texture at

that point; aggregate 8 contains the endings of four of the

sets begun in m. 1, and has many references to the opening

music.
Moreover, significant sectional divisions occur at

multiples of eight throughout the first section.

 49

Aggregates: 1 -

8 - 15 16 - 23

23 - 30
Figure 38

In the second half, dramatic events and /or section divisions

occur within a series of interlocking groups of four.

Aggregates: 30 - 33

33 - 36

36 - 39

etc.

Figure 39

Seen in this light, and considering that the two halves of

the piece unfold four set statements in all of the six

polyphonic lines, the partitioning of mm.1 -3 into groups of

four is quite meaningful:

1. 4 dynamics - f, mf, ff and ppp

2. 4 surface set segments in each aggregate

3. 4 array aggregates supply the surface segments in

the first statement of all 12 tones

4. 4 pcs in first motive

5. 4 's = length of first aggregate (m.1)

6. the partitioning of the opening 12 pcs is 4181
 50

There are other significant divisions within mm 1 -3.

The first statement of all twelve tones is articulated by

eleven attacks within the direction of eleven sixteenth

notes, (eleven is the number of intervals between pitch

classes in the set), and surface segments within mm 1 -3 are

derived from eleven different array partitions. This is

reflected on a larger scale by the boundary between aggregate

11 and 12, which marks the first major subdivision of the

piece. Aggregate 11 ends with references to the quintuplet

figure of m.2; aggregate 12 begins the next section with the

first instance of activity confined to one register for the

length of the entire partition. It is notable that the

beginning of this new section also occasions the ending of

inversional pairs I4 and R8 related by ToI, with references

to (3 4) and (9 1 0) .

There is also a striking correlation between aggregates

11 - 12 and 22 - 23 (22 = 11 + 1 1 ; 23 = 12 + 1 1 ).

Aggregate 22 ends with the same (11 9 4) , and many

references to m. 1 -3; aggregate 23 shows the same registrai

confinement as 12. Aggregate 23 is partitioned the same way
as the first 12 pc in m.1 - 41 81. There are many references

to the opening music in this area.

The partitioning of the surface segments by dynamics in

mm 1 -3 is also suggestive. Dynamics partition surface

segment / partition numbers in the following way:

 51

Overall Set Segments

Dynamics: f mf ff PP f mf ff pp

Aggregates
Represented: 7 1 1 2 5 1 1 1

(---- 4 -- --) 7 1

Figure 40

There are compelling references to the opening music in

the seventh aggregate: it begins and ends with the same

collection classes as aggregate 1; and it contains the first

ending of a complete set (the ff unit in m.2 contained the

first endings of two hexachords). This happens within a

similar harmonic environment (4 11 6 10). Aggregate 7 also

contains the unique instance of the juxtaposition of the two

highest and lowest dynamics used in the piece, ppp and fff,

significantly between two trichords related by T3, the

interval of transposition between set hexachords.

The beginning and ending of the 4- segment unit outlined

by mf -ff -pp dynamics suggests significant relations among

groups of two from the array constituents of these segments.

The relations that end this 2- aggregate unit, maintaining

among different collections produced from different members

of set lynes, are articulated within a single segment,

beginning with (2 x 2 =) aggregate 4.
 52

Figure 41

The segment in Figure 4 1 , articulated "ff" under a

quintuplet figure, is heard to climax this entire section

(aggregate 1 -4) just as the quintuplet figure in m.2 climaxed
that section.

The relations within and among previous groups are

collectively subsumed within this single fragment, just as

these were with the first quintuplet figure.

 CHAPTER 5

MACROSTRUCTURE

Aggregate number:
1 -11 12 -14 15 -22 23 -39 / 30 -38 39 -47 48 -50 51 -58

Figure 42

Figure 42 illustrates the eight large sections into

which the piece divides. Each new section is introduced by a

sustained activity that differs radically from what went

before: localized register, dynamic change, etc. These
sections are further partitioned by the sub -sections already
mentioned.
The large sections in Composition for Guitar are

symmetrically disposed around various centers. The

relationship of aggregates 12 -14 and 48 -50 is particulately

interesting.

Aggregate number:
1-11 12-14 15-22 23-39 / 30-38 39-47 48-50 51-58
I

il
----J i
c---
-) 1
I

iz it

-3 L 1

Figure 42a

Figure 42a shows the symmetrical, complementary

relationship that maintains between these divisions.
53
 54

Aggregates 12 -14 and 48 -50, as composed out in the piece, are

strikingly, and uniquely, lyrical in character.

Additionally, qualities associated with the openings of these

two sections and their relation with the ensuing section are
symmetrically disposed.
Aggregate 12 introduces the first music localized in
register for an entire aggregate, and begins a new section.

Aggregate 15 introduces the next instance of localized

register, which in turn begins a new section.

Aggregate 48 instances the first and very dramatic

appearance of literal pitch repetition (of a trichord); the
boundaries of aggregates 51 and 52 contain the second, and
last, appearance of literal pitch repetition, this time with

a tetrachord.
This is yet another case of complementary end -begin

relationships, this time between qualities which subsume

pitch relations.

The use of referential pitch collections and collection

classes creates a snse of unity and progression through the

major subdivisions in Composition for Guitar. Movement to

and from these collections follows the modes of association
and succession outlined in the earlier parts of this paper.

Section divisions are seldom completely unambiguous.

Although one can always locate a particular point where a

division occurs, Babbitt's procedure of introducing the new

with elements of the old (and of course vice versa) makes

most divisions nearly seamless.

 55

There is also some ambiguity in the treatment of

middleground subdivisions. Although aggregate, set, and

hexachord boundaries are always articulated, these generally
do not function in any one way and some boundaries are, on
the surface, more important than others.
Chart II outlines the pitch relationships between large
sections of the piece. The set lynes from which the surface

is formed can be determined by referring to Chart I.

Invariant qualities among pitch groups can be easily inferred

by noting interval succession, pitch succession, pitch
collection and pitch collection class, within and among
registers and articulation type.
The ending measures of the work are also particularly

striking in effect, and require further comment. The music

in mm.204 -205 begins what is heard as, for want of a better

word, the "coda ". The durations of the tremelo A (from pp)
and the (A B) dyad are significant: each lasts for eleven
sixteenth -note values, the duration of the opening twelve -
tone statement;
s
Pc
L

ORD.

.....
>PP

Figure 43
 56

This symmetrical figure contains and is surrounded by

relationships that have literal and relational reference to

the opening measures of the piece. These are illustrated in

Figure 43a.

I Tb To
To T To LT;

Figure 43a

The composing -out of the last aggregate in the piece spans

21 -1/2 quarter -note values, more than three times the average

length of aggregate durations. This brings about a

pronounced slowing down of the harmonic rhythm.

The last aggregate is almost a compendium of half -step
relations that were first seen in mm.1 -3, and appear

'
throughout the piece Figure 44.E

T' i- (- t -#!
'a :111

( 1&.
l
rt
j3:i
_ __

\ t! f ál---
_ _ --
.. '
I11 t,j 2 y
1 Z1 f 216
7--ftz17
-10-
214

Figure 44
 57

The D3 -Eb3 motive from the beginning reappears, the D3

sounding as a "leading tone" to the Eb3, which ends the

piece. The duration of the last Eb3 is again significant:

eleven sixteenth -note values (Figure 45) .

Mto

Figure 45
*set ending

CHART I

Aggregate: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6 7 7 0 2 2 8 1 10 9 5 5 3
11 4 5 10 10 1 1 8 2 0
3 9 7
2 9 10 8 4 3 3
5 6 11 1 7 0 9
1 8 8 9 7 2 11 11 4 4
3
0 0 5 4 6 6 6 10 11
Measures(s) ml m2-3 m4-6 m7-8 m9-12
Partition Class: 122232 3)4 214161 122261 12213151

6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
4 11 11*0 7 8 8 6 2 1 10 3 9
6*5 5 4
0 5 11 1 6 7 8
3 7*4 9 10 2 3 6
9 8 4 2 2 10*1 1 0 11
3 7 5
10 10 0 5 6* 2 9 1 8 11 0 4
3 9 7
2 9 1 8 7* 4 10 0 6 11
3 5
m13-15 m16-19 m20-24 m25-27 m28-29 m30-32
114171 2361 2242 11213161 11214151 213171

12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

11 4 5*8 1 0 2 6 7
4 11 9 10 1 2 6 8 7 0* 10
3 9 3 5
1 7 5 0 11* 4
2 3 8 10 9
6 9 10 2 4 3 8* 5 0 0 1 11 7 6
6 5 10*
8 7 1 11
3 2 9*4
m33-35 m36-38 m39-41 m42-44 m45-47
5171 2281 3261 3191 115161
 CHART I (con't)
17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.
7 10 5 11 9 9 )4 1
3* 2 1 8
11 14 14 1 0 0 8 6 7 2 11
2*3 10 9
6 5 1 11 11 0
3 8 8
7*
2 4 9 10*7 0
9 2 1 3 7 8 11 6 0 10 10 5 5 4 14*
0 10 6 5 2 7 1 3 3 8 9*6 6 5
m48-50 m51-55 m56-57 m58-61 m62-65
112271 m66-68
143151 113181 223151 2441 132251

23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28.

8 8 6 0 7 10 10 11 3 5 5
9 9 5 4 1 1 6 0 2 2 2 7
10 9 4 2 8 3 6 7 7 11 11 1 0
0 11 1 5 6 6 6 9 4 10 8 3
1 2 9 7 3 8 5 4 14 0 10 11
5 0 10 14 11 2 3 3 7 9 8 1
m69-71 m72-74 m75-77 m78-81 m82-85
4181 m86-90
1571 134151 1214161 1333 142161

29. 30. 31. 32. 33.

14 9* 2 7 6 8 0 1 1 4 11 5
34.
3 10 9 *6
7 8* 3 14 9 11 5 10 6
7 2 0 0 1 8
0 5* 8 9 2 4 4 10 3 0 11
3 2* 11 6
11 7 5
6* 3 8 7 9 1 2
1*10 10 10 5 5 6 14 0 11 8 1 7 9 2 3
m91-93 m94-98 m99-101 m102-103 m104-107 m108-111
26 62 122142 112431 11111 112351
CHART I (con't)

35. 36. 37. 38. 39.

6 1 2 0 8 7
8* 11
11 7 5 6 1 1*10 3 2 4 8 9
5 1 0 9 2 8 10 3 4* 7
2 5 0 6 4 11 10*9 9 7 9 8 3 1 7 2 5 6 10 0 11 4
3 3*10 11 4 6 0 5
m111-114 m115-118 m119-121 m122-125 m126-131
112191 1481 113142 123171 121

40. 41. 42. 143. 44.

4 9 3 5 10 11* 0
11 10 5 3 9 4 7 8 8 0 2 1 6 6* 5
0 7 7 1 1 11 6 5 *8 3 4 2 10
6 1 11 5 0 3 4 8 10 9 9
4* 7
2 2 2 1 9 7 8 3*6 11 10 0
m132-138 m138-142 m143-145 m146-150 m151-153
122181 1252 132171 12101 1391

45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50.

1 6 8 2 7 4 3 11 9 10 10 5 *8
10 9 11 3 4 7 2 8 6 1

10 9 6 11 5 7 0 1* 4
2*11 0 0 5 5 7 1 6 3 2 10 8 9 4*
7 2 3 1 9 8 5 10 14 6 6 11 0*
0 4 5 8 3 3 9 7 2 1* 0 11
m153-156 m156-158 m158-161 m161-166 m166-173 m173-178
43 314151 133161 2152 113251 21101
CHART I (con't)

51. 52. 53. 514. 55. 56.

8 7 2 2 0 6 6 1 1 14 5 11
9
0 *9 9 4 5 3 11 10 7 7 0
7
4 3 10 10 8 2 9 0 0 1 5
1 6 5 5 7 11 0 3 3 10 14 2
7 8 1 1 3 3 9 2 2 11 10 6 6
11 11 6 4 4 10 5 8 8 8 9
m179-186 m186-189 m189-193 m1914-198 m198-202 m203-207
112133 1232141 112231141 2132141 114142 1223141

57. 58.
11 10 10 3
0 6 8 1 2
5 7 6 11
9 9 8
14 4 0
5
1 3 2 7
m208-212 m212-220
13213141 2332
 62

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 63

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