Composition for Four Instruments

Composition for Four Instruments (1948) is an early serial music composition written by American composer Milton Babbitt. It is Babbitt’s first published ensemble work, following shortly after his Three Compositions for Piano (1947). In both these pieces, Babbitt expands upon the methods of twelve-tone composition developed by Arnold Schoenberg. He is notably innovative for his application of serialism to domains other than pitch, such as rhythm and dynamics. Composition for Four Instruments is considered one the early examples of this type of “totally serialized” music, and foreshadows the style and complexity of Babbitt’s later work. It is remarkable for a strong sense of integration and concentration on its particular premises—qualities that caused Elliott Carter, upon first hearing it in 1951, to persuade New Music Edition to publish it (Carter 1976, 30).

Structure and analysis

Composition for Four Instruments is scored for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello. An immediate division is apparent between the two wind instruments and the two strings. In addition to this, Babbitt makes use of every possible subset of the ensemble group within the different sections of the piece. He uses every combination of instruments only once, saving the full ensemble for the conclusion. The piece can be broken up into fifteen sections according to the subset of instruments playing. The instrumental subsets are arranged in complementary pairs, so that each instrument plays only once in every pair of sections. The four solos occur with decreasing frequency (at intervals of five, four, and three sections), "converging", so to speak, on the final quartet, which is just two sections after the violin solo (Dubiel 1992, 84).

Composition for Four Instruments (instrumental list)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

Fl.

Fl.

Fl.

Fl.

Fl.

Fl.

Fl.

Fl.

Cl.

Cl.

Cl.

Cl.

Cl.

Cl.

Cl.

Cl.

Vn.

Vn.

Vn.

Vn.

Vn.

Vn.

Vn.

Vn.

Vc.

Vc.

Vc.

Vc.

Vc.

Vc.

Vc.

Vc.

The twelve-tone row upon which the entire composition is based is given by the composer as 0 4 1 3 11 2 : 8 5 9 7 10 6, and is generated by the first trichord of the piece (Babbitt 1976, 12). It never once appears complete as a melodic succession, however (Dubiel 1990, 222). The pitch array used in the first 35 bars of the piece is as follows (Dubiel 1990, 223):

Composition for Four Instruments (Initial pitch array)

G♭

A

F

G♯

E

G,

C♯

B♭

D

B

D♯

C;

G

E

G♯

F

A

F♯,

C

D♯

B

D

B♭

C♯.

D♭

B♭

D

B

E♭

C,

F♯

A

F

G♯

E

G;

C

E♭

B

D

B♭

C♯,

G

E

G♯

F

A

F♯.

B

E♭

C

C♯

B♭

D,

G♯

E

G

F♯

A

F;

D

B♭

C♯

C

E♭

B,

F

A

F♯

G

E

A♭.

A♭

E

G

F♯

A

F,

B

D♯

C

C♯

B♭

D;

F

A

F♯

G

E

A♭,

D

B♭

D♭

C

E♭

B.

The first section of the piece begins with a solo in the clarinet. The notes of this solo can be separated by register into four distinct voices. Babbitt presents several instances of tone rows in the opening bars of the piece. A note-by-note analysis of the first nine measures reveals two such tone rows, the first beginning at measure one and the second at measure seven. A closer look at the separation of the opening into the four registers reveals two additional tone rows. The set of notes contained in the two high registers form a tone row, as do the notes in the lower two registers. The presence of serial constraints in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions, though not necessarily discernible by the audience, adds a level of complexity to the piece that is characteristic of Babbitt’s work.^{[citation needed]}

The piece begins with a three-note motive, or trichord (a collection of three distinct pitch classes). In the first five measures, each of the four register voices contains a transformation of the opening trichord. The first three notes all belong to the lower-middle register, and are separated by +4 then –3 semitone intervals. Each of the three other registers contains a similar three-note motive, spread out over the five measures, with the interval patterns –4 +3, +3 –4, and –3 +4.

The entire opening clarinet solo can be analyzed as an array of these trichords—an "array"" being two or more simultaneous sets presented in such a way that the sums of their horizontal segments form columnar twelve-tone aggregates (Mead 1983, 90)—and their various inversions and retrogrades. The trichordal relationships between the notes in the four registers of the clarinet foreshadow the interaction between the four instrument voices in the conclusion of the piece. Also, the way in which the instruments unfold throughout the piece directly corresponds to the progression of the trichords in the clarinet solo. The organization of the pitch classes throughout the piece is consistently and undeniably self-referential.^{[citation needed]}

In addition to his use of multi-dimensional tone rows,^{[clarification needed]} Babbitt also serialized rhythmic patterns. He uses the duration row as his primary rhythmic structure in Composition for Four Instruments, each of which consist of four different durations. The durations occur in the pattern sixteenth, quarter, dotted-eighth, eighth, which can be represented by the sequence of numbers 1 4 3 2. For example, the first four notes of the opening clarinet solo follow the 1 4 3 2 duration pattern. This rhythmic pattern is then manipulated under the same transformations as the pitches in a tone row. These transformations include the retrograde (2 3 4 1), the inversion (4 1 2 3) and the retrograde inversion (3 2 1 4). Babbitt expands this idea in later pieces, working instead with a set of twelve unique durational units.^{[citation needed]}

As he does in the pitch domain, Babbitt achieves additional variety in the rhythmic patterns of Composition for Four Instruments by manipulating the duration row and its three variations in different ways. At times, he expands the row by multiplying each duration in the pattern by the four other members. Applying this transformation to the original row 1 4 3 2 results in the duration rows 1 4 3 2, 4 16 12 8, 3 12 9 6, and 2 8 6 4. In the final three bars of the piece, the clarinet plays the retrograde of the opening duration row with each element multiplied by 4, giving the pattern 8 12 16 4.^{[citation needed]}

A third domain in which Babbitt applies serial technique is that of dynamic changes. He uses dynamic contours as another type of row, which can be manipulated as effectively as pitch and rhythm. For example, starting in measure 22, the dynamic markings read ff > mf p > ppp ff mf. The following pattern is then found at measure 24: ppp p < ff mf ppp p. A graphical representation of the contour of these two dynamic patterns reveals that the second is a transposed inversion of the first. Babbitt’s manipulation of dynamic contours adds yet another layer of complexity to an already analytically rich composition.^{[citation needed]}

Composition for Four Instruments holds a significant position as one of the early serial compositions, which draws from and reinvents techniques introduced in the work of Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern. The piece demonstrates Babbitt’s remarkable development of musical relationships and technical complexity which he continued to explore throughout his career.^{[citation needed]}

Discography

• Milton Babbitt: Composition for Four Instruments (1948), Composition for Viola and Piano (1950); John Bavicchi: Trio No. 4, op. 33, Short Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord, op. 39. John Wummer (flute), Stanley Drucker (clarinet), Peter Marsh (violin), Donald McCall (cello); Walter Trampler (viola), Alvin Bauman (piano); David Glazer (clarinet), Matthew Raimondi (violin), Assunta Dell'Aquila (harp); Robert Brink (violin), Daniel Pinkham (harpsichord). LP recording, 1 sound disc, 33⅓ rpm., 12 in. CRI 138. New York: Composers Recordings, 1960.
• Contemporary American Chamber Music. Volume 9: Elliott Carter, Sonata for flute, oboe, cello, and harpsichord (1952); Milton Babbitt, Composition for Four Instruments, for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello; Igor Stravinsky, Fanfare for a New Theatre, for two trumpets; Henry Brant, Angels and Devils, concerto for flute and flute orchestra. New England Conservatory of Music Chamber Players (David Reskin, flute; Tom Hill, clarinet; Michael Levin, violin; Ronald Thomas, cello; John Heiss, cond.). New England Conservatory Series. LP recording, 1 sound disc, analog, 33⅓ rpm, stereo, 12 in. Golden Crest NEC 109. Huntington Station, N.Y.: Golden Crest Records, 1975.

References

• Babbitt, Milton. 1976. "Responses: A First Approximation". Perspectives of New Music 14, no. 2/15, no. 1 (Spring-Summer/Fall-Winter): 8–10.
• Carter, Elliott. 1976. "To Think of Milton Babbitt". Perspectives of New Music 14, no. 2, and 15, no. 1 ("Sounds and Words. A Critical Celebration of Milton Babbitt at 60") (Spring-Summer/Fall-Winter): 29-31.
• Dubiel, Joseph. 1990. "Three Essays on Milton Babbitt" [Part 1]. Perspectives of New Music 28, no. 2 (Summer): 216–26.
• Dubiel, Joseph. 1992. "Three Essays on Milton Babbitt (Part 3)". Perspectives of New Music 30, no. 1 (Winter): 82–131.
• Mead, Andrew. 1983. "Detail and the Array in Milton Babbitt's My Complements to Roger". Music Theory Spectrum 5 (Spring): 89–109.
• Mead, Andrew. 1994. An Introduction to the Music of Milton Babbitt. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• Morgan, Robert. 1991. Twentieth Century Music. New York: W. W. Norton.

Further reading

• Cone, Edward T. 1967. "Beyond Analysis". Perspectives of New Music 6, no. 1 (Fall-Winter): 33–51.
• Perle, George. 1981. Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, 5th edition. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.