Contextually Transformed Tonality in Britten

It has been shown many times that tonal functions play a key role in articulating form in Britten's music.* However, much of his harmony is 'non-functional', or contextual, and this aspect has so far elicited little in the way of detailed analysis.' That such harmony is an essential ingredient of Britten's style, and therefore demands serious attention, is demonstrated succinctly by the opening passage (bs 1-24) of the First String Quartet, Op. 25, of 1941 (Ex. 1). The structural and middleground pivots of this passage can be identified quite readily. The structural pivots are the opening chord (labelled a in Ex. 1), which also ends the section, modified by the cello C, and the dominant of b. 18. There is one middleground pivot, or interim goal of motion: the F-A-D-E chord of b.13 (labelled e). Chord a is established quite simply by rhythmically-articulated repetitions. Chord e is emphasised at the most basic level by means of gesture: it is the culmination of a crescendo and it attains the loudest dynamic of the passage. It also contains the upper registral extreme of the passage, e4, and, most important of all, it resolves the V7 elements G and C# the most dynamic V7 elements in terms of voice-leading highlighted at the extremities of the preceding chord, d (see Ex. 2: note that the functional, directional quality of the G is enhanced because that pitch-class has not appeared before). In fact, both pivots are juxtaposed by chords which have a degree of dominant function, for a is inflected in b. 3 by a first inversion of the dominant triad with added major seventh (chord b see Ex. 2). Yet however much the dominant quality of b and d might attract attention, not all of their constituents (i.e. G# in b and B and A# in d) can be accounted for in functional terms. Although vestiges of functional harmony can no doubt be detected in the progenitor of d, i.e. the chord first sounded on the last beat of b. 7 (c), a concentration on those aspects would seem to neglect its special character

Art · Literature · Musical · Tonality · Historical Art and Culture Studies · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Scottish History and National Identity

• “Dream Away the Time”. Metric Play in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

  Open Access•Aidan McGartland•Revue musicale OICRM•2025

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