Chapter 20: Speculations onTheoretical Practices in Russian Romantic Composition

In our textbook, Dr. Hanning notes two distinct scales used in Russian compositions by individuals such as Mussorgsky, Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov. These are the whole-tone and the octatonic scale. For anyone who has studied music history, or for that matter, art history, poetic history or even theatrical history, we know that innovations don’t come out of thin air. Why was it the Russians who developed scalar patterns that would influence modern composition so thoroughly? The author Henrietta Yurchenco offers us a clue to solving this mystery, Yurchenco notes in the introduction to the anthology; A Russian Songbook that many melodic practices of folk singers comes from Greek and Byzantine chant which is still sung in the Russian Orthodox Church(in the Russian Church this is known as Znamenny chant). (Rubin p. ix)

Let’s listen to an example of Byzantine Chant:



Original URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr4mAIibx50

It would also be a good idea to check out this website on the Octatonic scale: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~krr2/atmi_files/multiple.html

It’s quite a bit different than the Gregorian chant we are used to hearing, although it does have some things in common, not the least of which being a free and open meter and a very reverent slow style. The differences are profound as well, however; the most obvious being the highly ornamental style and the exotic sounding arrangement of notes. To analyze this, we have to turn to a text over 100 years old; A Treatise on Byzantine Music by S.G. Hatherley. In this book Hatherley states that Russian, Byzantine and other Eastern Orthodox modes come from dual tetrachords that do not necessarily need to be separated by a whole step, therefore; a very wide array of tonal possibilities arise. For instance, a Phrygian tetrachord (whole-step, half-step, whole-step) could be joined on top of a Dorian tetrachord (half-step, whole-step, whole-step) producing a “Phrygiodorian Mode” (D, Eb, F, G, A, B, C, D) (Hatherley p. 27) This leads to four consecutive whole-steps in a row which never happens in the western European modes (save for the melodic minor scale which is really only a means of maintaining stepwise motion in a melody). It is very possible that this is the basis for whole-tone usage in Russian Composition and the “Phrygiodorian Mode” is not the only one that does this there are literally hundreds of possible tetrachordal combinations in this melodic construct. (Hatherley pp. 27-30)

By the same token, let us examine another “artificial oriental scale,” the Phrygian tetrachord (whole-step, half-step, whole-step) stacked on top of a hyperdorian tetrachord (whole-step, whole-step, whole-step) separated by a half-step produces the “Hyperphrygiadorian Mode” (D, E, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D) (Hatherley p. 27) which is almost an octatonic scale.

So it is easy to see that there is a clear theoretical foundation in formal composition in Russia dating back to the earliest times of writing for the church. My guess is that the European community was far too caught up with the likes of Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn to really pay attention to the music coming out of Russia (not to mention how backwards the country was at that point). If anyone is interested in this and wants more information please let me know, it is the kind of thing you could easily author a doctorial dissertation on.

Works Cited:

Hanning, B. Concise History of Western Music: New York: W.W. Norton 2006

Rubin, Rose N. A Russian Songbook. New York: Dover Publications 1989

Hatherley, S. G. A Treatise on Byzantine Music. London: The Scottish Review Newspaper 1892