Hans Abrahamsen's Winternacht:
Reflections on an Etching by M. C. Escher
by
Kevin Ernste
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the
Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Supervised by
Professor Martin Scherzinger
Professor Allan Schindler
Department of Music Composition
Eastman School of Music
University of Rochester
Rochester, New York
2006
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Curriculum Vitae
Kevin Ernste was born in Fairfax, Virginia on September 13th 1973 and was raised in
Rochester, Minnesota. He attended The University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1992
to 1997 where his primary composition teacher was Stephen Dembski, completing a
Bachelor of Music degree in Music Composition in May of 1997. He came to the
University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music in the Fall of 1998 to begin
graduate studies in Music Composition. His primary teachers at Eastman were
Robert Morris and Allan Schindler in addition to studies with Sydney Hodkinson,
Augusta Read-Thomas, and Joseph Schwanter. He completed the Master of Arts
degree in Music Composition in 2004 with a thesis piece entitled To Linger Still for
sinfonietta and a paper entitled “A Composer's Open Toolkit: Promise, Design, and
Implementation”. Beyond graduate studies he has taught composition and electronic
music at the Eastman Computer Music Center and most recently as faculty at Cornell
University in Ithaca, New York.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge the input and support of various individuals in the
preparation of this thesis including Martin Scherzinger whose own work serves as a
constant example of excellence. In addition I have received invaluable advice and
insights from Allan Schindler, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, and
Aaron Travers, but particularly from my friend and mentor Robert Morris whose
extraordinary support and guidance made this document possible. Finally I
acknowledge the support and self-sacrifice of my wife Annette, my daughter Adowyn,
my parents, brothers, and sister.
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Abstract
This thesis examines the metaphoric and harmonic compositional world of
Hans Abrahamsen's Winternacht, one constructed through associations of sometimes
conflicting, other times interrelated, often externally referenced materials.
Movements I and II are analyzed in some detail exploring Abrahamsen's meticulous
pitch and rhythmic constructions and his inter-referential musical, visual, and poetic
imagery. Both of these features are carefully integrated so their apparent
contradictions are resolved in a space between them where Abrahamsen's musical
identity lives.
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Table of Contents
Section
Title
Page
I.
Introduction
1
II.
New Simplicity and the New Danes
7
III.
Winternacht
10
VI.
Analysis: Movement I
10
Analysis: Movement II
29
Conclusion
37
Bibliography
40
Appendix A
42
Appendix B
48
Score
Katafala for marimba and percussion ensemble
1
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List of Examples
Example #
Title
Page
Example 1
Drei Welten (“Three Worlds”), 1955, M.C. Escher.
3
Example 2
Sectional design of Winternacht Movement I
4
Example 3
Violin and cello from Movement I, section 4 and Movement III, opening.
5
Example 4
Movement I, section 5 and Movement IV.
6
Example 5
A beginnings of a Norgard's infinity series.
11
Example 6
One 4-note segment, flute part measure 1.
12
Example 7
Half-step descent between voice segments.
13
Example 8
Larger organization of four-note segments, measures 1-10.
15
Example 9
Axis symmetry of the entire opening, measures 1-10.
14
Example 10
Interval-proportional durations, opening flute music, measure 1.
15
Example 11
Three voices by rhythmic proportions; [013] vertical relations.
15
Example 12
Resultant melodic pattern heard in opening two measures.
16
Example 13
Opening measures of Berg's Fünf Orchester-Lieder Op. 4.
17
Example 14
Cello line outlines [013] set-classes, measures 3-6.
18
Example 15
[013] saturation in the violin and cello, measure 8.
18
Example 16
Two consecutive ^5-line segments in the flute at Letter A.
19
Example 17
End tones outline the E-type hexachord.
20
Example 18
Triads in the ^5-line decent map the all combinatorial E-type hexachord.
20
Example 19
Two inversional voices, clarinet and cello in measure 18-19.
21
Example 20
Expansion of the two inversional voices, flute and cello.
21
Example 21
The viola manipulates Ab/G axis, mm. 22-24.
22
Example 22
The Winternacht chord from Movement I.
23
Example 23
The Winternacht chord at end in Movement III.
24
Example 24
Descent toward the Winternacht chord.
25
Example 25
The W-chord as a sonority.
25
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List of Examples (continued)
Example #
Title
Page
Example 26
Flute music in section 3.
26
Example 27
Flute and horn in inversion with internal symmetries.
26
Example 28
The E-type hexachord as overlapped triads overlayed on the W-chord structure.
27
Example 29
The tone-row from Alban Berg's Violin Concerto.
27
Example 30
Minor ninth and resolution, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
30
Example 31
Comparison of the notes from Beethoven's “Moonlight Sonata”, mm. 15-17
32
and the W-chord.
Example 32
Augmented 6th chord from the“Moonlight Sonata” (left) and opening lydstyrt tones (right)
32
Example 33
Violin outlines symmetrical expansion to C# and Ab, mm. 9-12.
32
Example 34
Die Forelle, two versions.
33
Example 35
Generalizing rubato.
34
Example 36
Collapse chord, measure 26, Movement II.
35
Example 37
Three new voices, all major triads.
35
Example 38
A final lydstyrt with triads horizontally and vertically, mm.28-32.
36
Example 39
Final bars of Winternacht Movement II.
36
Example 40
Preceding the last cadential figures, Moonlight Sonata, measures 61-62.
37
Example 41
Detail from M.C. Escher's Liberation.
39