Yale University Department of Music

"Pour les Sixtes": An Analysis

Author(s): William E. Benjamin
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Journal of Music Theory, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Autumn, 1978), pp. 253-290
Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of the Yale University Department of Music
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/843399 .
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"POUR LES SIXTES": AN ANALYSIS

William E. Benjamin

The opening notes of Debussy's Etude "pour les Sixtes" can only be
ascribed to a richly historical self-consciousness-a sense of artistic indebtedness which elicits hommage, and an awareness of one's place which
permits the open and confident payment of hommage. That Debussy
was supremely aware of his crucial role must be evident to any experienced pianist who attempts the realization of these first few notes,
since the player can scarcely have made contact with the keyboard
before being led back, in a rush of tactile memory, to the familiar
sounds given in Example 1.
Debussy's willingness to acknowledge a debt to the man whose
memory he apparently intended to honor with these Etudes,1 which
points to his unconcern about being mistaken for an imitator, is dramatized by his choice of occasion on which to make a clean breast of it: the
medium, the genre, and the very title of the work could hardly fail to
quicken an audience's associative bent. The confidence thus bespoken
could, of course, have been misplaced, but does not appear to have
been, for in spite of its thinly veiled allusions to Op. 25, No. 8 and to
other works of Chopin, this Etude, when but loosely scrutinized, can
be seen to reveal a world of means and purposes which lies quite outside
the scope of those ancestor works.2
253

mo/rto leo0 o

Vivace

mezzo

J"7-1

voce

-E
Example 1

[)

b)

c)
-

vi

0-

AL

kv,

0|v
VP

Example 2

a)

C)

b)

I"

Iv

-06v

Example 3
254

It is only upon closer scrutiny, however, that a determinant of "pour

les Sixtes" emerges which seals the sense one has of its otherness vis d vis
the many instances in nineteenth-century piano music where sixths are
used pervasively: i.e., a concept of tetradic consonance within the
diatonic scale. A mere hint (and hardly an adequate portrayal) of the
far-reaching effects of this concept is attained by comparing Example 1
with the opening measures of "pour les Sixtes." If Example 2a is
acceptable as a reduction of the content of Example 1, Example 2b may
perhaps serve as a comparable, if slightly simpler, representation of
mm. 1-3 of Debussy's Etude. Example 2c is an even simpler sketch of
mm. 1-4.3 Chopin's initial sonority-a major-minor (hereafter: "Mm")
7th chord -resolves directly to a triad. Since the 7th chord is represented
as a pair of sixths, this resolution implies a progression of one of these
sixths, played here by the left hand, to a fifth. In the case of "pour les
Sixtes," the initial harmony, pitch-class-identical to that of Op. 25,
No. 8, proceeds immediately to another Mm 7th chord and proceeds
thence, and at a more remote level, to a tetrad of type (0,3,6,9).
By sticking to a progression of 4-pitch-class (4-PC) sonorities at all
but the most foreground levels, Debussy maintains the integrity, at all
of these levels, of each of two streams of imperfect consonances. On the
other hand, the triadicity of Chopin's style implies that at most one
such stratum will endure beyond the merest evanescence. A direct result
of this distinction is the sharp textural contrast between the two works:
Op. 25, No. 8 makes obsessive use of an ornate, essentially conjunct
melody in sixths, set against an arpeggiated accompaniment comprising
sixths, fifths, and other simultaneities, which only occasionally, though
at crucial spots, achieves an independent sixth-stream of its own: by
contrast, "pour les Sixtes" makes flexible, indeed functional, use of a
range of textures, each of which derives from a distinctive way of differentiating between two underlying PC streams, each containing a
pair of PC lines consistently separated by IC's 3 or 4.4
We may begin our discussion of Debussy's Etude with an overview of
systematic constraints which govern its progress. First among these is
the notion of tetradic consonance, which entails the reference, at some
level(s), to a total-piece-partitioning succession of 4-PC harmonies.
Tetrads may appropriately be termed consonant to the extent that they
do not result from the melodico-rhythmic elaboration of a triadic
succession. If they are said to result from such a succession, it is because
a conceptual 3+1 partitioning seems in order, on the basis that special
(i.e., more highly constrained) treatment of their allegedly extra-triadic
elements elicits it. In effect, then, tetradic consonance is justifiably invoked when the singling out of one tetradic constituent (e.g., the 7th of
a 7th chord) as hierarchically inferior does not enjoy the support of the
facts. None of this in any way enjoins one from singling out a tetradic
255

constitutent as hierarchically superior, or, in other words, from designating it, on some defensible basis, as a root. This sort of reverse partitioning into 1+3 is exactly comparable to the 1+2 partitioning we
customarily inflict upon triads.
Consonant tetrads, therefore, are not supercharged triads. Still, they
may be heard as dependent upon, and dissonant to, one another in much
the same way that a dominant triad is heard in relation to its tonic triad.
This amounts to saying that there may be a hierarchy in the flow of
consonant tetrads. In any instance of tetradic music, our discernment of
this hierarchy and its exact makeup will rest on rhetorical aspects: that
is, on the way the music emphasizes certain elements and downplays
others. We think of music as more systematic, however, when it establishes some sort of correspondence between roles rhetorically expressed
and sonority types. In fact, it is this correspondence, however rough,
which guides us toward positing some hierarchical organization of
the music's elements as its analysis.
Distinctions between tetrads can be made in three stages. The first
stage is to distinguish different tetrad types, or 4-PC sets; the second is
to distinguish transpositionally equivalent tetrads; the third is to distinguish different registral orderings of the same tetrad. At the first
stage one distinguishes between the tetrads represented in Example 3a
(m. 13, beat 1); at the second, between those represented in Example
3b (mm. 18-19); and, at the third, between the tetrads of Example 3c
(m. 12 and m. 19, respectively).

Distinctions among tetrad types are fundamental, and, in this music,

form the basis for choosing an underlying vocabulary. Tetrads which may
be partitioned into two IC3's, two IC4's, or an IC3 and an IC4 figure as
items in the vocabulary; others do not. Any tetrad containing still
another IC3 or IC4 in addition to those which partition it enjoys a
privileged status: it may be used as a harmony. The highest-level harmony, or tonic tetrad, is a special case and will be discussed later.
Except for the tonic tetrad, the harmonies of the highest middleground
level are all global or local dominants and are PC sets of types (0,3,
6,8,) and (0,3,6,9). Constituents at the next lower level serve to facilitate the progress from dominant to dominant and are chosen from setclasses (0,2,5,8) and (0,3,5,8).s The latter, in turn, are elaborated by
harmonies of what may be called the lowest middleground tier(s);
i.e., those of types (0,1,5,8) and (0,1,4,8). At the foreground, a variety
of non-harmonies-tetrads which can be partitioned in the manner
described above, but which contain no additional IC3 or IC4-make
their appearances. Most frequently used among sonorities of this lastmentioned sort are those from set-class (0,2,3,5)-m. 12, 10th i-and
set-class (0,1,3,5)-m. 26, beat 3, 2nd ?, and m. 28, 6th
1.
to various
The assignment of transpositionally equivalent tetrads
256

levels of a hierarchy, the choice of one as being "more in the background" than another is an exceedingly complex matter. Only one
circumstance which helps to clarify this choice will be discussed here;
namely, when it is simplified by considering the PC voice-leading
implied in a surface progression of parts.6 Example 13a presents a
PC model of mm. 1-6 which comprises three voice-leading strata.
Each of the two top strata contains two PC voices or lines, while
the lowest stratum presents a bass PC line (not to be confused with
the lowest part in the music). The registral representation of these
lines is essentially arbitrary, but it has the virtue of displaying PC
connections as pitch adjacencies. The distinguishing feature of each
upper stratum in Example 13a is that at a middleground level (represented by white noteheads) its two lines are PC-conjunct and are
consistently separated by IC's 3 or 4. If, however, we restrict our concern to the first part of the example (up to and including the harmony
labelled D-flat: IV), we observe the use of black noteheads. Like the
preceding V, this IV is a "Mm 7th chord," but unlike the V, it is partitioned by voice-leading into an IC3 (middle stratum) and anIC2 (top stratum). The general principle here is this: assuming that this sort of model
of PC voice-leading can be produced, any tetrad which is partitioned so as
to generate IC's other than 3 or 4 in either of the top two strata is "more
in the foreground" than a transpositionally equivalent tetrad which is
partitioned into a pair of 3's, a pair of 4's, or a 3 and a 4. On the basis
of this principle D-flat: IV is here accorded a relatively low-level status.
In triadic tonal music it is customary to distinguish the three inversions
of the triad with respect to the role and hierarchic status of each. It would
also be possible to distinguish the registrally partially ordered representations of tetrads and to speak about root-positions, first inversions, and
so on. If, however, tetrads at virtually all levels are obtained as aggregates of pairs of "sixths," as seems to be the case here, only two inversions of the primary tetrads, quasi-7th-chords, are accessible, the ? and
the 1. It appears that no systematic functional distinction between
these registral arrangements is applied in "pour les Sixtes". Rootpositions of "7th chords" are accessible under the conditions which
apply in this work only when the fifth PC voice, the structural bass,
doubles the root. This sort of doubling is sometimes used to signal the
relatively high-level status of a tetrad (as in mm. 5-6 and, of course, in
mm. 57-58), but other uses are found for it as well. For example, the
fact that the "D Mm 7th chord" at m. 28, beat 3 is in root-position
heightens the interruptive effect of the G-flat root which follows it,
with the result that m. 29 sounds as if it were interrupting the progress
from m. 28 to m. 30.
In the world of "pour les Sixtes," where five PC lines-a bass and four
upper voices-are frequently in operation, 5-PC sonorities come in
257

handy because they allow the bass PC's of its own. When such allowance
is made, telling effects can result, such as those of mm. 46-50. Occuring
at various levels, 5-PC sonorities result from the melodic elaboration of
tetrads of type (0,3,6,8)-normally,
dominants-through the replacement in some octave of their individual roots (their 8's) by upper
diatonic neighbors: i.e., by 9's or 10's. The net results are pentads of
49-50.
45, beat 3-or of type (0,3,6,8,10)-mm.
type (0,3,6,8,9)-m.
In a tetradic system pentads can justly be termed "dissonant".
The role of triads in this system is manifold and particularly interesting. These figure in a profusion of foreground elaborations of harmonic
tetrads. In this connection Example 4 (which abstracts the content of
m. 35, beats 1 and 2) will prove instructive. The underlying sonority
during these beats is (D-flat, F-flat, A-flat, C-flat), which prepares, and,
after prolonged interruption, resolves to (G-flat, B-flat, D-flat, F-flat)
in m. 37. The latter sonority acts as an altered dominant-of the sort
popularized as a German 6th-leading to F. Example 4a shows the
fundamental progression (the bass line is left out) in which a sonority of
type (0,3,5,8) is used to prepare one of type (0,3,6,8). The elaboration
of the first of these is what concerns us here. Example 4b shows how each
of the dyads which partitions (D-flat, F-flat, A-flat, C-flat) is supplied
with an upper diatonic neighbor, the scale of reference being C-flat major.
The elaboration results in a temporal skewing-a diagonalization of
harmonic (and non-harmonic) elements. The simultaneities which result
are of another type (0,3,5,8) and a diminished triad. The latter is then
further elaborated (Example 4c) through neighbor motion in the lower
parts and a borrowing of the lower dyad (B-flat, D-flat) by the upper
voices. This produces a simultaneity of type (0,1,3,5). The sense of a
progression, followed by a recession, of dissonance within each beat
of m. 35 is unmistakeable, and obviously reflects the foregoing analysis.
The correspondences and non-correspondences to this wave-like action
in other dimensions-those of density, total range, and dynamic levelmake for a highly nuanced composite pattern which seems to demand a
rubato for its realization. Example 4d summarizes the level structure
of the fragment.
A second foreground role for triads involves their use "in series" as a
way of leavening extended passing progressions (occasioned by octavetransfers) between higher-level tetrads. Example 5 depicts this phenomenon as instanced in mm. 13-16, where (A-flat, C, E-flat, G-flat) is
connected to (B-flat, D, F, A-flat).7
The primary means of connection in Example 5 is a line of I chords
which could have been continued without a break right up to the goal
sonority. Instead, the chain is broken at m. 14, where a temporizing
impulse generates a wavering triad series. In m. 15 the chain is resumed.
Particularly fascinating is the use of octave doubling within these
258

C)

Lb)

d)

m.

34

35

37

Example 4

F..____--:W --3,

triads

U-,

----- 1

14

15

16

17

L).

Example 5

259

triads. Such doubling is necessary to maintain the continued flow of

sixths, but alternates between two pairs of parts, obviating a sudden and
unwanted sonic blandness. Part alternation of octave doubling is also a
feature of the upbeat segment of seven 's which precedes beat 2 of
m. 8. In this passage there is a crescendo of sonic complexity, from
dyads through triads to tetrads.
In this music, the primary role of triads on a larger scale is interruptive. The highest middleground level contains a progression of tetrads;
triads introduced at the next-lower level loosen up this progression, and,
by filling the junctures from tetrad to tetrad, increase its temporal
extent. These triads are obviously not resolutions of the tetrads which
flow into them, yet they appear to absorb their forerunners' energies
and, momentarily, to stay the forward-pressing impulse symbolized in
the tetrad progression. Striking examples are furnished by the G-flat
major triads in mm. 27 and 29. The first represents the beginning of a
large-scale triadic prolongation (mm. 27-36) which interrupts the
tetradic progress of the middle section as a whole. From m. 27 to m. 34
the PC syntax is turned inside-out, in a sense, with tetrads engaged in
the melodic expansion of the G-flat triad. These tetrads are organized
in an energetic wave which spans mm. 28-33, reaching a crest in m. 32.
M. 29 acts as a pocket of placidity within this wave, mirroring the
larger effect of mm. 27-36 as a whole.
Ultimately, then, the whole middle section of "pour les Sixtes,"mm. 21-45-can be heard as an interrupted tetrad stream which bridges
(F, A, C, E-flat)-mm. 21-22- to (B-flat, E double-flat, F, A-flat, C-flat)
-m. 45. The whole section, therefore, is spanned by a quasi V-I progression. The interruption of the stream is filled by a G-flat triad prolontion, but is really brought about by a discontinuity which is inherent in
the stream itself. This is made clear in Example 7 where the connection
between the B-flat and G-flat tetrads (mm. 23 and 37, respectively) is
seen to be suddenly disjunct. In each stratum the pair of voices folds
over from bottom to top: hence, in the middle stratum, the F-flat in the
harmony at m. 37 continues from the F in the harmony at m. 23, but
the D-flat (m. 37, middle stratum, upper voice) appears to emerge from
nowhere. The same sort of thing happens in the upper stratum. Example
6 shows how this problem is dealt with at the next-lower level. By
means of a chromatic modification (D-D-flat) and a characteristic shift
(indicative of transition to a lower-level event) from a sixth to a seventh,
a dominant of G-flat is reached at m. 26. The PC counterpoint then
enters a triadic pocket with the "dissolution" (rather than the "resolution") of the middle stratum's sixth to an octave. The tonicization of
the G-flat triad, which is re-executed with greater care at m. 33, promotes
it to a kind of free zone in which constraints regulating the tetradic middleground are temporarily relaxed. In this tolerant setting, arpeggiations
260

which lead the PC lines to their new points of departure in m. 37 are

easily accomplished. (See Example 6).
Let us look more closely at Example 7 to uncover further conditions
which shape its course. Two of these conditions are particularly obvious:
in the upper strata there is 1) uniformity of PC-conjunct motion, with
the exception of the much-discussed interruption and of the final
anomalous progression, to be discussed below; 2) a descent without
reversal in all voices (except at the point of discontinuity, where the
question of direction is moot). We have already alluded to a third condition-i.e., that each upper stratum uses only IC's 3 and 4 as verticalities
-and we can now make the observation that the contents of verticalities
directly under one another are mutually exclusive. In other words, the
upper strata never double each other and each successive tetrad is
partitioned by them without the aid of the bass. The bass, then, serves
to double PC's or to add elements of its own.
All of the above seems simple enough until we realize that we have
left the term "PC-conjunct" essentially undefined. Its definition is
implicit, however, in a condition which is pertinent to our inquiry and
which we have tacitly assumed from the start, as evidenced by our use
of the terms "tonic" and "dominant". The reference here is to the
"diatonic condition," one in which each of the 12 PC's is given a range
of a priori significance by being identified with appropriate members of
appropriate "disposition-pairs" in selected major, major-minor, or
"modal" diatonic scales. Disposition-pairs are ordered pairs of adjacent
diatonic scale-degrees in each of which the first element is thought
of as disposed towards, or as tending toward, the second. Questions
as to the possible bases for asserting disposition-pairs require more
detailed answers than could possibly be given here,8 but it should be
clear that the model of Example 7 can have no validity unless we
accept their assertion as legitimate. Why not? Simply because there
is no reason to place our trust in a conjunction of two PC's whose
representations in the music may be separated by considerable stretches
of foreground, and to say that one "goes" to the other, unless we
think of them in terms of their prior relationship in the diatonic scale
or some comparable prior construct. We should remember that the
smooth lines of Example 7 in no way reflect the registral complexity
of "pour les Sixtes". They are not meant to represent simplifications
of an actual pitch-counterpoint into an ideal species-like pitch-counterpoint; instead, they are meant to portray the underlying PC counterpoint we call harmony. There is very likely no line in "pour les Sixtes"
which "goes," as does the upper line of the upper stratum in Example
7, from some E-flat to the E-flat an octave lower. We should also
recall that in conceiving of the tetrads of Example 7 as consonant,
we lose any basis for relying on an obligatory resolution of dissonant
261

m.

23

26

rd

27

35

37

--i7cb.

Example 6

sequence pottern

'foldlng
o v(-.r"

rEStrtement

pattern

Db:
C.
F:

(I)
(7)

II
6I

51

37

38

IV
V

(1)

23

CV

B 1
IEI

Example 7

262

44

47

II
)

I
(I)

54

57

for example-as a determinant of PC succession.

elements-7ths,
Before returning to Example 7, let us see what disposition-pairing
tells us about the behavior of IC's 3 and 4 in diatonic contexts. The
major scale is the simplest, but what follows can be adapted to other
instances of diatony. In what was apparently Debussy's concept of the
major scale (disposition-pairs are not fixed for all time), the primary
pairs are 7 --- i 4 -- 3, and 2 -- i. Three other pairs, 6 -+ 5, 2
3,
--and 5 -+6, are generally secondary. These come into play as parallel
associates of primary pairs, The disposition of "sixths," therefore,
are as given in Table I.
In Table 1 a sixth is labelled "inert" if neither of its scale-degrees is
the first member of a primary pair. If one of its scale-degrees is the first
member of a primary pair it is called "weakly disposed," although 4/6
is regarded as stronger than 5/7 and 7/2. The pair 2/4, in which both
degrees are first members of primary pairs, has the strongest disposition
of any sixth. The sixth 7/2 has as its ultimate disposition the identity
1/1. To maintain the fragile world of "pour les Sixtes" 1/1 is simply
avoided at higher levels. Table 2 reproduces the upper strata of the first
half of Example 7 in terms of disposition pairs.
What emerges from Table 2 is that disposition-pairs are not used in
the purest fashion; indeed, a simple diatonicism would be incompatible
with the goals of maintaining a flow of sixths and keeping the upper
strata separate as to content. In addition to following their dispositions,
the first members of the pairs 1) may be retained from one tetrad to the
next; 2) may be chromatically modified, thus entering into a new scale
and dispositional relationship; 3) may progress to a chromatic modification of the scale-degree they are disposed towards, in which case the
latter may be thought of as having been elided (it is possible, for
example, to imagine a D-flat between the E-flat and the D-natural at
the beginning of the top stratum's upper voice); and 4) may be
enharmonically reinterpreted.
Having taken pains to show the ultimate diatonic basis of this music,
we can now deal with the bass stratum of Example 7 in a more summary fashion. It is, au fond, a diatonic-circle-of-fifths segment: C-FB-flat-E-flat-A-flat-D-flat. In a local sense the opening A-flat is a
mediant-associate of the C-F fifth; in a long-range sense it is the lefthand jaw of a dominant vise which grips the bass line as a whole, except
for the final PC. The G-flat which appears under the tetrad at m. 37 is,
like the initial A-flat, a mediant-associate of the following (augmented)
fifth. It completes the D-flat major collection in the bass stratum and
permits notes 5 through 8 in that stratum to act as a sequence of notes
1 through 4. The strange pentad which appears in m. 47-a chromatic
substitute for a more normal harmony with E-flat as the root-has its
263

TABLE 1

QN

weakly disposed

strongly disposed

--7 1
2-->3
4--3

-->

TABLE 2

2
4
D-flat:

2 ---

natural-1
3
"

5
7-

B-flat: 4---5
5
7 - flat-7

5
flat-7

-+

4 ----

1
3

C:
5
flat-6 ---flat-7
7

2 -----1
4 ---

F:
7--

flat-7

Note: the numbers above represent scale-degrees in spite of the omission

of carats. The tonal reinterpretation of a tetrad is represented by vertical
alignment.

265

origins in the logic of the bass line. With E double-flat substituting for
E-flat, three things are made possible: 1) a pun, the interval B-flatE double-flat being both a fifth and an IC4 ("sixth"); 2) an augmented
triad, which ties in with other results of whole-tone-scale patterning in
the bass throughout the piece; and 3) an upper-leading-tone relationship
to the final bass-line tonic, which relates enharmonically to the D-flatD-natural and C sharp-D pairings which are found in many places
(mm. 32-33, m. 35, m. 42).
If we agree to understand all of Example 7 (except its closing chord)
as a massive dominant prolongation representable by a copy of either
its first or its penultimate chord-the two being identical-we may
perhaps agree to hear the next-higher level, the background, as consisting of that copy followed by the closing chord, in the manner of
Example 8a. This seems at first a curious background to entertain, since
its PC voices all move by "leap," contradicting the spirit of the middleground. And yet, to have continued in that spirit by allowing the
dominant's tones to reach their dispositional consequents would have
been impossible: we would have lost our final tetrad (Example 8b).
Nor would Example 8c do; its upper stratum is anti-dispositional. It
might occur to someone that Example 8c is "really" Example 8a with
a content exchange between strata, as shown in Example 8d, but it
seems more than a little forced to "explain" an allegedly basic progression (8a) as a distortion (8d) of an incorrect one (8c).
What then are we to make of Example 8a? At the risk of appearing to
be resurrecting and trotting into view much nineteenth-century theory,
grown musty with neglect, let us try out the notion of the final tetrad
as neither a 7th chord nor a pair of sixths, but as an interlocking of D-flat
major and B-flat minor triads. This explanation is perhaps not entirely
removed from the notion of an added-6th chord, but is, unlike the
latter, made to bear the weight of more than a bit of foreground fluff.
What we are claiming, in effect, is that the principles which govern the
background differ essentially from those which determine the next-lower
level. We regard the tonic tetrad as having two potential roots and as
being, in this crucial sense, unlike equivalent tetrads of the middleground. At middleground levels, tetrads of type (0,3,5,8) have 5 as their
only possible root and act to prepare dominants (e.g., the principal
sonority of mm. 10-11). At the background level this tetrad has two
possible roots-the 5 and the 8-and it falls to the bass stratum to focus
on one of these.
Consideration of Example 9 and of the following table will help to
clarify matters. Example 9a interprets the voice-leading of Example 8a as
deriving from a voice-leading in which there are no leaps (whole-noteheads in Example 9a). This same voice-leading is represented in letter
notation in the two left columns of Table 3. There are two aspects of
266

d)

c)

b)

a)

--

-1

Example 8

G)

b)
-p4

--i

,
_,,0

C)
I

c)-------

__1

;OS LP; IF.

LrIE
_93

Example 9
267

TABLE 3

E-flat-

E
-Rotation-- B-flat
D-flat

G-flat-

IC4 D-flat
)C3

-D-flat scale

B-flat scale-

A-flat
IC

268

A-flat- C

B-flat

) IC2

F
IC3
A-flat-

this proto-voice-leading which require clarification. In the first place, it

is inherently bimodal: the upper voice of the lower stratum of Example
9a implies D-flat major while the lower voice represents a dispositionpair in B-flat minor; the voices of the upper stratum correspond to
disposition-pairs in either D-flat major or B-flat minor. The result is that
the progression as a whole can be decomposed into two sub-progressions,
one of which leads to a D-flat major triad and the other, to a B-flat minor
triad. This decomposition is shown in both Example 9a and Table 3.
The addition of a bass-stratum A-flat-D-flat, (as in Example 8a) to
Example 9a supports the D-flat voice-leading and causes it to dominate
the progression as a whole. The second aspect of Example 9a which
deserves our attention is its failure to maintain sixths in both strata. In
the second chord of the example there is a seventh in the lower stratum.
In view of our earlier discussion it would seem that this result is
appropriate to a foreground progression and not to the highest level. As
a way of getting around this problem, the background transforms the
second chord of Example 9a by vertical rotation. This will be readily
observed in Table 3. The third column in the table is simply the second
column rotated down one position. Example 8a is the result of this
rotation, and, as is evident, the sixths of both strata are maintained.
Examples 9b and 9c show what happens when the bass underlying
the upper strata of Example 8a is changed. In each case one of the
upper tones is chromatically modified. The results in both cases are
tonicizations of B-flat triads with undertones of D-flat major. The
effect is less unitary in Examples b and c than it is in Example a, which
is to say that the secondary scale (D-flat) is less well accommodated in
the coupling. The 7ths against the B-flats in the bass (Examples b and c)
are undoubtedly largely responsible for this, but one must also consider
the cross-relation in Example b and the weaker bass motion in Example c.
So far we have only a hypothetical explanation of Example 8a in
Example 9a, and two contrived examples in 9b and 9c. Does the music
somehow validate our understanding of Example 8a, and does it corroborate this validation by incorporating tonicizations which are the
possibilities implied in that understanding, those represented in Examples 9b and 9c? The answer to both questions is yes. The background
progression makes its surface appearance as the work's final cadence in
mm. 54-59, where it is elaborated in a singular way. As shown in Example 10, the component sixths of the dominant tetrad are once again
temporally skewed and presented in conjunction with elements "more
in the foreground." The bimodal implications of the remarkable bellchord in mm. 55-56 are especially evident. It is clear that A-natural acts
as a leading tone to B-flat; its presence supplies the context of the final
cadence with the only disposition-pair of B-flat minor missing from
Example 8a.
269

7of
MI10
Bb/bO

Example 10

c)

b)

a)

(V[)V.

VI

11

Example 11

-I- p

Example 12
270

mm.8-9

The tonicizations of B-flat triads corresponding to Examples 9b and

9c occur in the music at mm. 8-9 and 13-16, respectively. These
tonicizations are of only local significance, as befits the inconclusive
nature of these progressions. In the first case the tonicized B-flat root
(m. 9) yields immediately to one a fifth lower, and is thus absorbed in
the prevailing D-flat context. Example 11 accounts in three stages for
the way in which the content of Example 9b is elaborated in these
measures. The relationship between Example 9c and mm. 13-16 is not
as clear, but only because the music uses a foreground voice-leading
(without rotation) like that of Example 9a. It is important to understand Example 12, which shows this voice-leading, as a tonicization of a
B-flat triad against the sustained fifth of a D-flat triad, and not as a
pitch-contrapuntal elaboration of the V4 of E-flat minor such as one
might find in Mozart. The fact that B-flat is to be heard as a local tonic,
and not (except in retrospect at m. 19) as a dominant of E-flat, emerges
most clearly from its prolongation in mm. 16-18, where the diatonic
content is best described as B-flat quasi-Mixolydian.
This wavering between a prevailing D-flat tonality and a potentially
emergent B-flat tonality conditions the first 20 measures of "pour les
Sixtes" in so obvious a manner that it would have been tempting to
dismiss it as a conventional opposition of "relative" keys. Its source is
not convention, however, and must be located at the very background
of the work itself.
There is a symmetry to the thematic plan of "pour les Sixtes" which
is perhaps better described as a concentricity. The larger scheme is
obviously tripartite, with an expository section (mm. 1-20), a digression (mm. 21-45), and a reprise (mm. 46-59). Moving inwards, one can
see that the digression follows a ternary plan: A (mm. 21-26), B
(mm. 27-37), A' (mm. 38-45). The middle section exhibits a similar
design: a (mm. 27-30), b (mm. 31-33), a' (mm. 34-37). To the extent
that one perceives "the form" as just presented, m. 32 becomes its very
center. Two possible observations then gain in significance: 1) that a
fairly straightforward case can be made for performing the downbeat of
m. 32 as the dynamic (or accentual) climax of the middle section and,
perhaps, of the whole piece; and 2) that the harmony of m. 32, a polar
(tritone) substitute for the dominant of D-flat, while unique to the middle section, points back to the beginning dominant and forward to
mm. 48-50, where it reappears as a quasi-domninant-9th over flat-II
before proceeding to the'closing dominant.
There is, however, something which opposes the neat 3-partness of
the middle section: the music at m. 37 seems to want to return to the
beginning, a beginning which, to be sure, would find itself a whole-tone
lower. This "urge" is signalled by the not-quite-obvious reappearance
of the opening motive on the last eighth of m. 37. (A pronounced
271

ritard would create an unmistakable reference to m. 1.) But this is only

the tip of an iceberg of formal ambiguity, the true dimensions of which
are revealed only upon further study of Example 7. It shows that the
highest middleground level progression underlying mm. 37-54 is,
roughly speaking, a sequence of that which is the skeleton of mm. 1-23.
So the sense we have of a possible thematic return at m. 37 is the result,
in part, of an extremely deep parallel between two points in the music
(m. 1 and m. 37).
A. The Expository Section (mm. 1-20)
This section is in two parts. The first (mm. 1-6) seems to be all of a
piece; in the second (mm. 7-20), obvious and not-so-obvious features
conspire to suggest a major division on the downbeat of m. 16.
Example 13a is a model of PC counterpoint in mm. 1-6, which has
been alluded to previously. The symbols used should now be familiar,
with curved arrows signifying disposition-pairing, and straight lines, chromatic modification. Both notions are applicable at various levels. These
various levels are indicated, in the simplest possible way, by a hierarchy of
note values. There are no beams or slurs, and much of the other paraphenalia associated with Schenker-analysis is likewise missing for the reason
that these are more appropriate to a model of multi-levelled pitch-counterpoint, something that does not concern us at the moment.9
The bases for level-determination in a PC counterpoint, such as that
in Example 13a, should be recalled from the previous discussion: the
primacy of tetrads over triads, of "sixths" over "sevenths," and of ascent
over descent are important here. Particularly interesting is the gradual
"loss of depth" in mm. 1-3, after which there is a sudden plunge
beneath the surface.10 In a conventional D-flat major context, the
arrival of the first root-position tonic triad-considerably delayed and
harmonically prepared-would constitute the focal point of an initial
phrase. Here it is the last outpost on a cul-de-sac, as is evidenced by its
occurring on the "extra" beat of the only I measure in the immediate
environment.
Example 13b shows the actual registral disposition of the upper
strata of 13a. It suggests that this disposition may have, at least, three
functions: one is the establishment of long-range identities and adjacencies of pitch; the second is the creation of large-scale contours which,
in addition to establishing their own dialect, also articulate, at their
crests and troughs and other junctures, major goals along the music's
harmonic path; and the third is the fashioning of correspondences
between the realms of pitch and pitch-class, so that relatively low-level
PC connections are distinguished in yet another way from those at
higher levels. Whereas the middle stratum of Example 13a is registrally
confined in Example 13b so that its PC voice-leading is interpreted as a
272

m.

D
F: .
C:
(w)

IV

(I)

m
I

b)
.1

. .

v..

9,-,01

Example 13

273

series of pitch adjacencies, the upper stratum of 13a migrates through

much of the piano's range, executing a large curve. Thus the main
purpose behind the interpretation of the middle stratum seems to be
the establishment of an "obligatory register" in which future progress
on that stratum can be monitored (the first function mentioned above).
The upper stratum, on the other hand, seems to emphasize the C in
m. 5, this being the first time that a tetrad root has appeared in the bass
part (the second function). A particularly fine detail is the registral interpretation of the V-I progression in m. 3. The simultaneous appearances
of octave shifts in both strata, which give the music a wayward and
palpably problematic quality (enclosed segment in Example 13b),
underline the atypical foreground status of this progression (the third
function).
Other issues of interest in the first "phrase" are: 1) the motivic
independence of the bass part, 1) the use of melodic sequence to articulate the succession of highest-middleground-level tetrads, and 3) the use
of diminution as a summarizing technique.
The bass part, until it reaches the C in m. 5, is a mere extraction
from the upper strata of Example 13a. It pursues its own course,
alternating IC's 3 and 2 to produce a chain with overlapping pentatonic
segments. This chain is artfully broken at m. 5 in a way which leads to
its being taken up again, in transposition, as the broadly conceived top
voice of mm. 7-20 (Example 14).
There is an obvious motivic conformance to mm. 1-2 in m. 4, and a
possible conformance to both of these in m. 3. Had m. 3 been written as
Example 15a suggests it might have been, an opening sequence would
have resulted, and this would have destroyed the delicate effect of th'e
measure as written. On the other hand, the very real, though hidden,
sequence which connects m. 4 to m. 5 should not be missed (Example
15b). Here the underlying harmonies are on the same level, a commonality which the sequence confirms.
As the bass part descends to an ornamental dominant at the end of
m. 5 in preparation for the recurrence of m. 5 as m. 6, the upper parts
engage in a preparatory gesture which compresses into one beat a cycleof-fifths progression of IC3's, reaching back to the A-natural/C in m. 2
and the D-natural/F in m. 4. These are directly tied to the G-natural/
B-flat in mm. 5-6 (Example 16).
The second part of this section (mm. 7-20) does not easily let itself
be understood. As a first step it is necessary to put aside much nonsense about parallelism and "planing" in Impressionistic music. There is
only so much "nonfunctional" parallelism-i.e., parallelism without PCcontrapuntal (harmonic) significance-in Debussy's music, and very
little in the late works. The key to the passage is given in the realization
that what happens in mm. 7-20 represents a lower level of happening
274

_. _

penrato:c

oo choir
co.itinugtiorn
[ missing

nic
pentato

10

presented oas

~m.

5-6
- -

chromatic

ec7dlntoher

m.

chromatic shift

m. 2

16 -

12

18

18

19

Example 14

possible m. 3

m. 1
.-II

v v

l
4'

n.------

missing
b)

present

beco me s

m4

At i11

m.5
01A

nIK

Example 15

m. 4

m. 2

m. 5

mm.5-6
L

Example 16

275

than that which transpires in mm. 1-6 or at the beginning of the in poco
agitato. A simple way to grasp this would be to notice the obvious
harmonic connection between m. 6 and m. 21 and, what is more striking, the obligatory-registral connection between G-natural/B-flat in
mm. 5-6, the G-flat/B-flat in mm. 19-20, and the F/A-natural in
mm. 21-22. What mm. 7-20 "do," in effect, is to transform.the tetrad
(C, E, G, B-flat) in mm. 5-6-a dominant-into the lower-level predominant tetrad (C, E-flat, G-flat, B-flat) in mm. 19-20.
The essential (PC) voice-leading of this "phrase," as seen in Example
17, has nothing to do with parallelism in the small; instead it is an
example of paralellism writ large and very much in the grand tradition;
that is to say, it is an example of sequence! But it is a PC sequence of
which we speak and, as such, is only superficially like the pitch-intervallic pattern-chains of tonal foregrounds. As such it may be expressed
in pitch relationships which are quite remote from parallelism of any
sort. What makes it a sequence are the motions of its PC voices, and
these can only be discerned from a theoretical point of view.
The last two tetrads in Example 17 are bracketed because they
actually belong to the middle section. They are, however, intimately
tied to, and even "implied" by, the content of mm. 7-20. We will consider the example at its terminal extremes and move inwards. The last
two tetrads are a high-middleground-level sequel to the tetrad at m. 5.
They execute a tonicization of B-flat major. This tonicization is prepared by the pair of tetrads at mm. 16 and 19, the first of which acts as
a dominant to the second. The voice-leading between m. 16 and m. 19
is the same as that found in Example 8a, the "voice-leading-by-rotation"
which is a feature of the background progression. Each PC in the tetrad
at m. 16 "goes" to the next lower PC in the tetrad at m. 19 (e.g.,
F-*E-flat, A-flat-oG-flat, etc.; see Example 17). The result is a tonicization of the E-flat minor triad within the tetrad at m. 19, which is
what makes the latter sound so different from its "inversion" at m. 12.
The C in the tetrad at m. 19 is its other possible root, unrealized
here, which relates the harmony as a whole to its higher-level source, the
tetrad at m. 5. An "R" inside a curved arrow is used in this and
subsequent examples to indicate voice-leading by rotation.
The four tetrads beginning with the one in m. 16 constitute a highlevel pattern which is now imitated in its entirety in the tetrads of
mm. 8, 9, 10, and 12. The imitation is at an interval of 10, so that B-flat
is approached in m. 23 whereas A-flat is approached in m. 12. The
charm of this anticipatory imitation lies partly in our changing perspective of the harmony in m. 12. At m. 12 it sounds like a dominant:
we imagine that a strong motion to D-flat is in prospect. At m. 23,
however, the A-flat of m. 12 is understood in retrospect as a peaceful
quasi-Mixolydian 7 in relation to the B-flat of m. 23, and, perhaps, as
276

(D

AV
Db

() w

Sb:

vi

I"=
.,L

U12

Mixolydian

mojor- minor

Example 17

m.

10

12

16

19

Example 18

277

a mediant-associate of the C (m. 5) and implied F (m. 21) of the bass

stratum. The juncture between the two pattern statements-i.e., between m. 12 and m. 16-is also realized as a voice-leading by rotation.
This allows us a more direct experience of the "modal" VII-I relationship, since the tetrad at m. 16 is, remarkably, a forerunner of that at
m. 23.
The registral interpretation of the foregoing is sketched out in
Example 18. The upper stratum of Example 17 is shown in Example 18
with stems descending, and the lower stratum, with stems ascending.
It is immediately- apparent that the sequential qualtities of the PC
model are preserved in the interpretation. Under the first curved bracket
in Example 18, there is a descent of both sixth-streams which corresponds
to the first pattern statement in Example 17. This is followed by a
general and pronounced ascent to the phrase's high-point, corresponding
to the juncture between pattern statements and the beginning of the
second higher-level statement. Finally there is a second, expanded
descent, corresponding to the second pattern statement, one which finds
its way to the obligatory register established in the first phrase.
Two masterly details merit mention. Both derive from a curious
anomaly in the registration of the A-flat/C dyad which appears in the
upper stratum of Example 17 at m. 12. In Example 18 this takes the
form of a widely-spaced tenth instead of a sixth. As a result, A-flat also
sounds like an expression of the bass stratum, and is easily associated
with the low C in m. 5. (In fact, the connection between the C and the
A-flat is made explicit in the recall of the events in mm. 5-6 at the end
of m. 12.) We have already noted (see Example 14) how the long
descent of the top-voice in mm. 7-20 can be heard as a continuation of
the bass part in mm. 2-6 and as returning to the latter's point of origin;
i.e., the closing top-voice interval of mm. 18-19, B double-flat-G-flat,
which is equivalent to the A-natural-G-flat with which the bass part opens
in mm. 2-3. This return happens when a truly non-PC-functional tetrad
is inserted on the last eighth of m. 18. This tetrad originates in a strict
parallelism with the immediately succeeding tetrad (m. 19, beat 1). A
more interesting consequence of inserting this tetrad is its relation to
the registration of the tetrad at m. 12 where it provides the second basis
for that registration. In Example 18 we can see how the C at m. 12 is
lifted above the descending sixths of the other stratum. This enables
one to hear a melody in sixths (circled in the example) which is
especially prominent in the music. This melody is an augmentation of the
opening notes of the piece. The insertion of the tetrad at m. 18 enables
the bass parts to echo this melody as the section comes to a close.
B. The Middle Section
Since a great deal has already been said about this stretch of music,
278

the following remarks are confined to a commentary on a couple of

particulars and a glance at two analytical sketches.
Measure 26 poses an interesting question: why is the third beat is not
a literal transposition (up a minor 3rd) of the third beat in m. 25.
Perhaps we ought to rephrase the question and ask why the third beat
of m. 26 is more interesting than it would be as a literal transposition.
One might answer as follows: m. 27 is the beginning of the long triadic
interruption which comes to an end with the definitive resumption of
tetradicity in m. 37. This makes m. 37 the "real" continuation of
m. 26. By giving us the high B-flat, which is a whole-tone too high with
respect to m. 25, and by delaying the appearance of an exposed, suddenly-leapt-to A-flat until m. 37, the musical surface reinforces the
deeper link between these measures.
If one follows the progress of the bass stratum at a high middleground
level-from the C in m. 5, through the A-flat in m. 13, to the B-flat in
m. 23-one notices an accumulation of tones which begins to suggest
one of the whole-tone scales. Indeed, the suppression of F, which seems
to be called for but which is apparently replaced by G-flat in m. 22,
intensifies this suggestion. By m. 27 it becomes clear that an analogy is
being made to the (C, A-flat) dyadic root-alternation of the first section;
i.e., that the new section is balanced in a similar way on (B-flat, Gflat). Completion of the whole-tone collection and proliferation of its
elements at the musical surface happen together in the bass part of
mm. 27-30, where the arpeggiation-space between the root of the
G-flat triad and its third is filled in with a scalar descent in whole-tones.
This passage and the measures which immediately succeed it are
summarized in Example 19. Unlike the models presented so far,
Example 19 is a voice-leading graph and uses the concept of arpeggiation
to account for a structural upper voice (in mm. 27-31). We should note
that this passage is syntactically "inside-out" and that tetrads serve to
elaborate a G-flat tonic triad. In the context of an essential triadicity
and over a span of only a few measures, arpeggiation as the essential
content of an upper voice seems sufficiently non-arbitrary. Particularly
notable in Example 19 is the shift from D-flat to D-natural in m. 28. As
far as the structural upper voice is concerned, this is the hinge on which
the progression from G-flat harmony (m. 27) to B-flat harmony (m. 31)
turns. This shift is answered by its retrograde in mm. 32-33.
Example 20 is a three-part sketch of the transition to the reprise
(mm. 40-46). The meaning of this magnificent passage becomes clear
only after it is over; i.e., when the bass reaches E double-flat in m. 48
and the goal-harmony of m. 46-48 is attained. As shown in Example
20a, the high-level progression from m. 45 to m. 48, in which a chord
occurs that might be labelled "vii07 over flat-II" in D-flat and is
preceded by a "dominant-9th" on VI, serves as a model for an earlier
279

-15-T -

Ob

0I

27

m
G6:

whole tonte
28

th-3pn

29

30

31

32

33

I
m

Example 19

a)

40 -41

42

7
Db

Example 20
280

45

46-48

b9
7

VJT7

=171

34

b)

0:

(assuming Blbass)

M/

c)
Oti -

Ob

--88V

"r
m.40

42

43

44

45

46

281

progression, in m. 42. The latter is the crucial event of mm. 40-45; it is

a tonicization of D major which follows upon the heels of the tonicizations of B-flat (m. 23), G-flat (m. 27), and B-flat (m. 40), in all of which
the local tonic is used as a bass pedal. The tonicization of D major
implies the subsequent bass motion to D or, as the larger context would
in D) in the
have it, E double-flat. The disposition-pair B-4A (65
upper voice of the upper stratum in Example 20a, serves to motivate
the enharmonically equivalent-but far-fetched in a voice-leading senseC-flat to B double-flat of the succeeding, higher-level progression.
Example 20b shows the pitch counterpoint which evolves from the
first four harmonies of Example 20a. At this level the sonorities are
written in D major and their outer voices can be seen to collaborate in
the pre-arpeggiation of the diminished-7th chord of m. 45. In Example
20c further pitch elaboration is shown; this comes about through the
application of octave-transfer to the third sonority of Example 20b.
Both 20b and 20c show continuing preoccupation with the PC pair
(1,2). This appears in m. 42 as the disposition-pair C-sharp4-D. Order
is reversed in mm. 43-44 as a high-register D is shifted to D-flat, accompanied by parallel motions in three supporting voices. This reversal may
be heard as preparing a more radical development whereby E doubleflat (m. 48) becomes the first member of a disposition-pair whose second
member is D-flat (m. 57, anticipated at m. 51).
C. The Reprise
Mm. 46-48 have a far-out quality which only the most sophisticated
applications of tonal thinking, or some comparably advanced thinking,
produce. The events of m. 42 illuminate a new facet of the B-flat
pedal, so that it begins to sound like flat 6 of D major. Consequently,
the bass descent into m. 46 is easily assimilated as a flat 6-'5
phenomenon. One imagines that the upper voices will follow suit, finding some way to cope with the augmented octave over the B-flat,
perhaps such as is proposed in Ex. 21a (in keeping with Example 20b
the C-flat at m. 45, beat 3 is heard as a B-natural). But what the
upper voices actually do in mm. 47-48 runs counter to these imaginings
and forces one to entirely reevaluate the significance of the first bass
note in m. 46 and that of the harmony which precedes it. In effect,
the bass must be heard as moving from the B-flat of m. 45 to the A-flat
of m. 47, beat 3-a move which implies a return to the primary diatonic
field. This makes the first bass note in m. 46 a flat 6 in D-flat major,
used, in this context, as an accented passing tone. The four upper voices
execute a motion which is essentially parallel to that of the bass
except that the top voice enters into an exchange with the bass by
using A-flat as an appoggiatura to B double-flat (spelled as A-natural
in m. 47). This much is summarized in Example 21b.l. The basic
282

b. 2)

b.1)

b.3)

b.4)

LiL-

Example 21

283

progression, stripped of these adornments, appears as the first two

chords of Example 21b.2. It is good to recall that we enter the middle
section by way of a progression which is very similar to this one, being
its retrograde. (Reference is made here to the PC sequence in Example
17 which can be summarized as a progression from the harmony of
m. 13 to that at mm. 23-24.) Ex. 21b.2 contains a third chord, the
bass of which is more a tonal sequel to its first chord than is the bass
of its second chord. The interval between the first and third bass
notes is a fifth. Since the upper notes of the second and third chords
are identical, we may consider the bass of the second chord an ornamental tritone-associate of the E double-flat. Tritone-related PC's, when
individually added to (0,3,6,9) tetrads, will each produce (0,2,3,6,9)
pentads and this is the basis of their association here. Example 21b.3,
therefore, gives us only two sonorities; the second chord, for which
there is no convenient Roman Numeral designation, is composed of the
first members of five disposition-pairs. The progression as a whole may
be heard as a substitute for the commonplace one in Example 21b.4.
Example 21c summarizes the analysis of mm. 45-48.
Example 22 is a PC voice-leading model of the entire reprise. It tells
us something interesting about the bass part in mm. 51ff. This appears
to be a dual (tonic/dominant) pedal. Looking at the model, however,
we notice that while the A-flat at m. 51 belongs to the bass stratum, the
D-flat at this same point does not; rather, it is extracted from the top
stratum, or, in terms of pitch, is borrowed from the D-flat an octave
higher. When the D-flat of the upper stratum is displaced by C (m. 53),
D-flat lingers on in the bass, reverberating until it happens to resonate
with the bass stratum's own D-flat at m. 57. This is perhaps the only
purely coloristic effect in "pour les Sixtes".
A final word should be said about contour. There is something
mysterious about the long, unrelenting melodic descent from m. 48 to
m. 57, something dangerous in the way it flouts the conventions of
"good" melodic writing by taking so many leaps in immediate succession and all in the same direction: A2 (m. 48)-F sharp2 (m. 49)E-flat2 (m. 51)-C2 (m. 53)-A-flat1 (m. 54)-F1 (m. 55). Out of context

-and accustomed as we are to cadential step-motions-this might seem

to be a strange way to end a piece. And yet the result is profoundly
satisfying. Why is this? Perhaps a return to the concept of obligatory
register will provide a clue. We noted previously that this concept
pertains to the way in which the first half of the middle stratum of
Example 7 was registrally interpreted. The PC's of that half-stratum
actually sound as written at a string of important points. It is interesting that the second half of the stratum continues to meet its registral
obligations, as shown in Example 23-except for the dyad B doubleflat/C, which sounds an octave "too low" in m. 47, adding something
284

m. 45

51

48

46

IR

57

55

54

53

72

de 0 L-1

Example 22

a) Ex. 7, middle strtum,second

m.

37

39-40

45

47

(4~

48

49

half

51

53

54

55

Example 23
285

to the jarring effect of that already strange spot. The return to the
obligatory register is effected by a two-octave leap (mm. 47-48) which
puts the melody an octave "too high". The leap has the effect of
compensating for the sudden dip at m. 46. If only the whole-noteheads
of Example 23b are played, the effect should be a balanced one. The
right-hand dyads between m. 48 and m. 54, which enter at another
level, do not change this effect. They merely fill in the final octavedescent, embodying it in a composed-out glissando of the utmost
delicacy.
Having begun with comparisons to another work, we might well end
by broadening our focus a little. If we cannot encompass the music of
forerunners or successors, then we can, at least, entertain a matter of
general relevance to the study of Debussy's oeuvre-the matter of
duplication." Duplication is a feature of certain musical time-spans; it
is what the following time-spans in "pour les Sixtes" have in common:
m. 5, beat 1 to m. 6, last
10, beat 1 to m. 12, beat 1; m. 21,
beat 1 to m. 23, beat 1; m.,;m.
23, beat 1 to m. 25, beat 1, and so on.
Duplication occurs where a time-span is partitioned into two subspans (not necessarily equal in length), and when the content of some
initial portion of the second sub-span (and possibly all of it) is a more
or less literal repetition of the content of a corresponding (though
not necessarily equally long) portion of the first sub-span. The following diagram and the semi-formalization which follows it may help to
clarify things.
Debussy is frequently criticized for having relied too heavily on
duplication as a means of getting from A to B. It is true that the
procedure is a hallmark of his style and that his predilection for it must
have been a part of his self-distancing from Wagner. Wagner's notion of
transition was one of an almost imperceptible evolution from state to
state, a notion to which the circularities and discontinuities implied in
duplication could hardly accommodate themselves. But to begrudge
Debussy the mode of continuity which was most natural to him is to
betray the sort of silliness which might criticize Bach for writing too
many sequences, or Chopin, for accommodating himself to the four-bar
phrase, or Carter, for making the lowest metric levels too explicit. The
point is that no two duplications will be exactly alike in terms of relations internal to T (see Figure 1 and Definitions) and connections
between the stuff of T and what surrounds it. With regard to internal relations one would want to know how long T is; whether S =
S2 and s1 = s2, the nature of the equivalence of C' to C, the material
relationships of C to what follows it in Si, and of C' to what follows
it in S2, as well as those between the tail-segments of S1 and S2. And
one would pay particular attention to the qualities of points J, j1,
and j2: do continuous functions pass through them, or are they points
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time

S2

S2
s2

s2

j2

j2
C'

Figure1
Definitions:
1. T is the time-span between time-points A and B; it may include A,
B, A and B, neither A nor B.
2. S1 is the first sub-span of T; S2 is the second sub-span of T; Jis
the point of juncture between them; S' may include A, J, A and
J, neither A nor J; S2 may include J, B, J and B, neither J nor B.
S1 and S2 may both include J.
3. ji is a time-point in S1 ;j2 is a time-point in S2.
4. sl is the time-span from A to j1; s2 is the time-span from J to j2 ;
both may include one or both of their endpoints or include
neither of them (see Definitions 1 and 2).
5. C is the content of s'; C' is the content of s2.
6. C' is a duplication of C (or, T exhibits duplication) if and only if
C' is approximately a repetition of C.
Notes:
1) The sense of "repetition" in Definition 6 can be formalized. It
does not embrace any sort of transposition, including octavetransposition.
2) S1 need not have the same duration at S2.
3) s' need not have the same duration at s2; if it does not the sense
of "repetition" (of C) will have to take note of the difference.
4) s' may occupy all of S1; s2 may occupy all of S2.

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of discontinuity? When a longer list of possibly relevant questions is

drawn up-relevant, that is, to the matter of T's relations to its environment-the full complexity of the situation emerges.
We will look at only one example, taking mm. 25-26 as T. Here
S1 = S2 and sl = s2. C' is an exact repetition of C except for a minor
change in dynamics. The content of the third beat of m. 25 (the tailsegment of S') conforms to C in many surface features and is the
simplest harmonic continuation of C; it uses PC exchange in a way that
C does not, thereby opening up a higher register, but it does so only
internally and not, as it might have, at j1. The content of the third beat
of m. 26 conforms to C' in most of its surface features, although it is
louder than C'; it does not represent a simple harmonic continuation of
C' since it can only be accounted for as a chromatic derivative of the
tail-segment of m. 25, and it succeeds C' at j2 by registral disjunction of
an extreme sort. The two tail-segments relate to each other as follows:
the second is essentially a sequence of the first. Indeed, Wagner would
have written T as a sequence. But it distorts the pattern established by
the first in ways already discussed. It has been implied that ji is a point
of maximal continuity and j2, of very considerable discontinuity. J is a
point of continuity on which an "artificial" discontinuity is imposed, in
the form of the notated caesura.
What is the outcome of all this? It is that m. 26, beat 3, as a segment
which is unstable with respect to relevant preceding segments, and
which is initiated at a point of extreme discontinuity, may be said to
provoke some opposition to, or negation of, itself, which it gets in the
form of m. 27. The latter is suddenly low where the former was suddenly high, suddenly soft where the former was loud (even if not
suddenly), and placidly triadic where the former was vociferously
tetradic. The sense of opposition at the beginning of m. 27 (point B) is
extremely crucial in view of the interruptive role of the music which
begins here. It is noteworthy, in this connection, that our T is the third
in an uninterrupted succession of three 2-measure segments which use
duplication-a succession which is then broken at m. 27 by a 4-measure
segment (mm. 27-30) which also avails itself of this technique.
In the end, the duplications in Debussy's music seem essential in that
they serve as a rhetorical tool, one used to promote the reconciliation
of conflicting values which that music expresses: of clarity in the
establishment of goals, consistency in the definition of syntactic roles,
and of a hard-edged specificity in the assignment of roles to musical
elements on the one hand; of non-literalness in the relationship between
musical time and ordinary time (the latter has no "points of discontinuity"), of freedom to juxtapose heterogeneous materials, and, above all,
of suppleness in the outlining of surface forms on the other. Duplication
is a simple instrument. Basic to it is an iterative treatment of points of
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stability (A and J). Also part of it, however, is a flexible construction

which encourages endless inventiveness in connecting these points (A
and J, J and B, A and B). Well-suited as duplication was to the
mediation of opposing currents in his dichotomous world, is it surprising that Debussy never worked without it?

NOTES
1. Most sourcesstate that the Etudesare dedicatedto the memroyof Chopin.
Debussy's letters to J. Durandindicate that he certainlyintendedto make
such a dedication, though he hesitatedbetween Chopinand Couperinfor a
time. My (Durand) score, however, bears no dedication,and the Durand
catalogueof Debussy'sworks does not includethe Etudes in a list of works
bearingdedications.I cannotexplainthis discrepancy.
2. Particularlystrikingis the resemblanceof figurationin the middlesectionof
"pourles Sixtes"to that in the codaof the secondBallade,Op. 38, of Chopin.
3. Examples2b and 2c are registralsimplificationsof the content they represent,
made for purposesof comparisonwith 2a. Example2a, on the other hand,is
faithful to the registrallayout of Example 1. This is the sense in which
Examples2b and 2c are simplerthan Example2a.
4. I am defining "functionality"in a mannersimilarto the definitionproposed
in WallaceBerry'sStructuralFunctionsin Music(EnglewoodCliffs: PrenticeHall, 1976), pp. 4-13. Accordingto my definition, a musicaldimensionis
functionalif the valuesin that dimensioncanbe ordinallyscaledand if some
music tracesan interestingpath througha rangeof suchvalues.In the caseat
hand, scalingwould be in accordancewith the degreeto which one streamof
imperfectconsonancesis differentiatedfrom the other, the dimensionbeing
a texturalone.Wheresyntaxis concernedI preferthe term "role";e.g., I prefer
"tonic role" to "tonic function."
5. It will be noted that (0,2,5,8) is an inversionof (0,3,6,8), but it does not
seem appropriateto regardinversionallyequivalenttetradsin this musicas
being in any way role-equivalent.
6. The conceptof PCvoice-leading,or of PCcounterpoint,is graduallydeveloped
in the courseof this paper.See, in particular,the discussionof Table 1.
7. For reasonswhich will become clear,I regardthe B-flatin the pentad(A-flat,
C, E-flat, G-flat, B-flat)-m. 13-as a foregroundelement introduced to
preservea surface-levelflow of sixths in both hands.
8. Most contemporarytheorists would probably derive disposition-pairsas a
necessary consequence of postulatingthe hierarchicsuperiorityof a tonic
triadwithina diatoniccollection.I would do thingsjust the otherway around,
derivingthe pairsfrom structuralfeaturesof the scaleand from suchassumptions as the primacyof descent over ascent, and applyingthem to the construction of a harmoniccontext. I do not think this is a chicken-and-egg
situation.
9. It seems to me that Schenkeriannotation is best suited to capturingwhat
happens as one approachesthe outer layers of a musical structure.I use
somethingmore like it in Examples4, 19, and 20.
10. Unfortunately,the metaphor"loss of depth" standsfor the more technical
metaphor"descentthroughthe levels".The confusionbred by the equation
of "high"with "deep"will be familiarto readersof JMT who, I hope, will
continueto tolerateit.
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11. In using "duplication" to designate the procedure discussed here, I follow

Nicolas Ruwet, whose definition of it differs somewhat from my own. See the
paper entitled "Note sur les duplications dans l'oeuvre de Claude Debussy,"
in N. Ruwet, Langage, musique, poesie (Paris: aux Editions du Seuil, 1972),
pp. 70-99.

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