Diatonic Trichords in Two Pieces from Kurtág's Kafka-Fragmente: A Neo-Riemannian Approach

Abstract

The fundamentals of contextual transformation are explained, beginning with the idea of a repeated interval pair as found in Johannes Brahms and György Kurtág, and proceeding to the transformations Parallel (P), Leittonwechsel (L),and Relative (R), as defined by Hugo Riemann, and slide (S),as defined by Lewin. The neo-Riemannian Tonnetz is introduced, with generalizations of P, L, R, and S to suit trichords other than the familiar consonant triads. Two Pieces from Kurtág's Kafka-Fragmente are analyzed by means of networks invoking the above transformations. In one case, pitch-class sets that are the union of two trichords related by P or S are shown to exist at two levels of structure. In the other case, generation of a complete diatonic set via two contextual inversions operating alternately on a set such as {C, D, F}, whose pairs form a major 2nd, minor 3rd, and perfect 4th, is shown to account for the progress of a melody.

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