Characters, Key Relations and Tonal Structure in 'Il Trovatore'

8/10/2019 Characters, Key Relations and Tonal Structure in 'Il Trovatore'

1/12

Characters, Key Relations and Tonal Structure in 'Il trovatore'Author(s): William DrabkinSource: Music Analysis, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Jul., 1982), pp. 143-153Published by: WileyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/854125.

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2/12

WILLIAM

DRABKIN

CHARACTERS,

KEY RELATIONS

AND TONAL STRUCTURE

IN

IL TROVA TORE

I

In

this

paper

I intend o use

principles

f

tonal

analysis

o discover

further

evidence

of dramatic

nd musical

unity

n the score of

II

trovatore.'

say

'further

vidence'

because

I

believe that

Pierluigi

Petrobelli's rticle To-

wards

an

Explanation

of the Dramatic Structure

f

II

trovatore'

lready

demonstrates

n

underlying

onal

ogic

at work n this classicnineteenth-

century

talian

melodrama.

n

focussing

n

tonality

shall

be

developing

onlyone ofthemanythemes n Petrobelli's tudy;and yetthis seems the

best

place

to start.

For not

only

are

pitch

and

key

relations f the utmost

importance

or

his

discussion,

here lso seem to be

good

reasons

for

ny

investigation

nto

the score of

an

opera

to

begin

with he

elements f

pitch,

just

as we

usually begin

with

the

pitch

domain

in the

analysis

of

purely

instrumentalmusic.

In

particular,

t

is

sometimes ound

n

studying pera

that

characters re associated

with

certain

pitches,

onalities r

melodies:

that a

sequence

of

events

or

emotions s associated

with,

and even illus-

trated

by,

a chord

progression

r

succession

of

keys;2

and that home

key,

if texists-thatis, if t seems useful o identify-canprovide focalpoint

for the

unity

of drama and music. With

regard

to

this

last

point,

the

mature

stage

works of Mozart

immediately

ome to

mind:

one thinks n

particular

f

Don

Giovanni s

an

opera

whose action s

welded to

a

tonal

hierarchy

ased on

D,

that

s,

an

opera

which

s

'in the

key

of

D'.3

In

the

Verdi canon a case can be made out

for the

original

version of Macbeth

(1847)

as

an

F minor

pera.

Despite

the recent

upsurge

in

studies of

nineteenth-century

talian

opera,

and

of Verdi

in

particular,

etrobelli's

rticle

has

not been

widely

commented

n,

and

its

possible

significance

or he

analysis

of

otherVerdi

scores s yetto be takenup. JulianBudden, in the secondvolumeof The

Operas of

Verdi

1978),

mentions

few of

Petrobelli's deas

in

the

chapter

on

II

trovatore

ut

does

not discuss

them

systematically.

n

his

biblio-

graphy

or

The Verdi

Companion 1979),

Andrew

Porter iststhe

article s

the

only

tem on Il

trovatore

mong

the

studies of individual

works;

but

@

MUSICANALYSIS :

2,

1982 143

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3/12

WILLIAM

DRABKIN

there s no mention

f t

elsewhere

n

the

volume. Even

in

the

most recent

published

discussions

of

Verdi's dramatic

nd structural ses of

tonality,the extended forumon Un ballo in-mascheraublishedin 19th-Century

Music4

and

an articleon

Macbeth,5

Petrobelli's

arguments

re

totally g-

nored.

Petrobelli laims

that here s not a

single

element f musical

expression

that

escapes

the networkof musical and dramatic

relationships

n

the

opera;

thus

his

study

s

broader

than

my

development

f

some of

ts ideas

might

otherwise

uggest.

But it

was

in

observations n

pitch

and

tonality

that

he

was

able

to

lay

the foundations or

larger

view

of the

work.

n

his

discussion

of other

lements-notably

rhythm,

n

which he confined

im-

selfto associatingcertainmotifswithparticular haracters-he gave in-

sight

nto

specific

points

n

the

score,

but

this

in

itselfdid not

lead

to a

more

encompassing

nderstanding

f

t.

From these

comments do not wish to

imply

hat

what we

are

seeking

is one

of

those

instantaneous'

iewsof

the

entire

core,

omething

f

which

Tovey

and

his followers

would

have

certainlydisapproved.

We

might

begin

by

examining

ust

such

a

view,

provided

by Siegmund

Levarie

in

the

first ound

of the Ballo

forum.6

n

exemplifying

hat he calls the

'tonal

flow' across

an

opera,

Levarie

places

II

trovatore

alfway

between

operas

like Don

Giovanni,

which

begin

and

end

in the same

key,

and

operas

like Tristan n whicha tonic s

implied only by

a cadential

sweep

linking

he

opening

key

with the

final

chord

of the

opera. Following

the

analysis

of

Alfred

Lorenz,'

Levarie describes he

tonal

flow

cross Tristan

as

an

imperfect

adence, IV-V,

in

E

major,

since the

opera begins

with

a

prelude

n A

major

and ends

in

B

major

with

solde's Liebestod.

easoning

in

the

same

way,

Levarie

asserts

that

II

trovatore

egins

in

E

major

and

ends

in

E

b minor,

o

that

the

tonal flow f the

entire

workamounts

to an

enharmonically

e-interpreted

eapolitan

cadence,

that

s,

with

E

under-

stood

as

Fb.

The

succinctness

of

this view

of

the

opera

is not

itself

reason forfaultingt. But its ultimatevalue will depend on theway in

which

dramatic

and tonal events

support

Levarie's

two-chord

encapsulation

f

the

harmony,

or

xample

by demonstrating

hat

Neapol-

itan

relations

re

important

r

by showing

hat t

s

useful o

think f

Eb

as

a tonic n

some

larger

ense

than

as

'the

final

chord

of the

opera'.

(One

inference o

be

made

from

Levarie's

assertion,

hat

Eb

is

tonally

more

important

han

E,

is

quite

at odds

with

Petrobelli'sview

of

the

opera.)

II

Before

discussing

the

special qualities

of Petrobelli's

study

of the tonal

design

of

II

trovatore,

should like

to

investigate

two

premises

on which

it

is built. One

of these is

stronglysupported

by

Verdi's

famous letter

to his

librettist

Salvatore

Cammarano,

in which he outlined

the

scenario

and

assigned

to Azucena the role

of

principal

character-in

effect,

he

subject

144

MUSIC ANALYSIS

:

2,

1982



4/12

TONAL

STRUCTURE IN

II

trovatore

of

the

opera.

The other is

based on the

writings

f the

late

Gabriele

Baldini on Verdi's operalibretti,nparticular is remarks n symmetrynIl

trovatore.8

The first

f

these

premises

asserts

that the

principal

character

f

the

drama,

the

gipsy

Azucena,

is marked

by

an

emotional

mbivalence

round

which the entire

drama unfolds: her

amor

filiale

which

drives her

to

avenge

her

mother's ruel

death,

and her amor

maternowhich s

manifes-

ted

by

her love for Manrico. In

tonal

terms,

he is

represented y

what

Petrobelli alls the

sonority'

f

B,

in

effect,

he

pitch-class

B;

and her

two

conflicting

motions are

expressed

by

the tonalitiesof

E

minor and

G

major,

respectively.

hese

keys

are

of course

closely

ssociated,

s

relative

keys.But what s crucial to theanalysis s thatthe chords ofE minor nd

G

major

sharethenoteB and thus

stand na

pivotal

relation

o each

other.

The other

premise

regarding

onality

has to do

with

the

concept

of

symmetry

nd

with the

notion that

parallel

events

n the

drama are

also

reflected

n

the

music. This view

continues

he

trendof

thought egun by

Baldini,

who observed that the

division of

II

trovatorento four

cts-or

parts,

as Verdi

himself

alled them-results

in

a

large-scale ymmetrical

design.

The

opera

divides nto two

dramatically

quivalent

halves,

he

first

(Acts

I

and

II)

ending

with

Manrico's rescue of Leonora

and,

appropri-

ately, hebiggestmusical ensembleoftheopera,thesecond half Acts III

and

IV)

ending

with

the

deaths of

these

two

characters.

At

the next

evel,

each of these halves divides furthernto

two

parts,

he

second

of which

s

longer

than the

first:

Act II

is about twice

as

long

as Act

I,

Act IV

twice

as

long

as

Act III.

This

architectural iew

of the

drama,

a

view in

which

space

(i.e.

the

lapse

of

measured

time)

is

of

fundamental

mportance,

as led

Petrobelli

to

observe

parallels

to

this

architecture

n

a

musical level.

For

instance,

the

first cenes

of

Act

I

and Act II

begin

with

an account

of

the

pre-

liminaries f the

plot

(a

retelling

f

everything

hathas

taken

place

before

thecurtaingoes up forthefirst ime n theopera) and continuewiththe

evocation of

horror

which

results

from

these

events. The

events are

of

course

recounted

ifferently,

y

Ferrando

to

the

soldiers nd

retainers n

behalf of

the

Count,

and

by

Azucena to the

gipsies

and

Manrico

very

much

on

her own

behalf

or

on

behalf

of her

mother).

But

however

differ-

ently

the

story

s

told-thereby

leading

to a

different

et

of

images

of

horror n

each

instance-the

unfolding

f

tonality

s

always

from

minor

to

A

minor.

This

musical

parallelism

over

roughly

qual

portions

of the

score

can

hardly

e

regarded

s

fortuitous.

Beforeconsideringways in whichthis view of the opera may be ex-

panded,

I shall

commenton

three

features hat

help

distinguish

t

from

most

previous

writings

n

opera:

the

significance

f

melody,

analysis

on

different

evels,

nd the

search

for

arge-scale

nity.

(1)

The

significance

f

melody:

In

its

regard

for

melody,

Petrobelli's

analysis

marks a

significant

dvance

over

well-known onal

analyses

of

MUSIC

ANALYSIS

1:

2,

1982

145



5/12

WILLIAM

DRABKIN

opera-Lorenz

on

Wagner,

Levarie on

Figaro (1952)

and now on Ballo--

in

that

t

seeks to

explain

not

merelywhy

some set

number

s in

a

particu-

lar keybut also whyitsmelody mightemphasizea particularnote. For

example,

Azucena's 'Stride

la

vampa'

begins

with

repeated

B's and ends

with

long

trill n

the

same B

just

before

he

final adence. The

emphasis

of

B

in

this

canzone s a

direct

consequence

of Verdi's

association

of the

pitch-class

B

with he

character

f

Azucena.

(2)

Analysis

on

dzfferent

evels:

Though

Petrobelli's

study

in

no

way

purports

o offer n

all-encompassing ayer analysis

of

the

score,

t

does

account

for tonal events which

take

place

over

larger spans

of

music as

well as in shorter

assages,

and it

also

explains

how-at

times-the same

tonal event can takeplace on differentevels.9We see this n particularn

Verdi's use

of

E

minor

and G

major

as twin

keys,

demarcating

djacent

sections

of music of various sizes and formats.

As

one would

expect,

this

procedure

an be heardmostoften n Azucena's

music."'

But

it

is

by

no means

necessary

forAzucena to be

present

nd

singing

forthis

very mportant

ey

relation

o

be used: twice at the

beginning

f

the

opera,

Verdi

modulates from

E

to

G."

In the

first of these

modulations-in

the

passage immediately

eforeFerrando's

ballata,

there

is a

change

n the

subject

of the

text,

from

Ferrando's

warnings

bout

the

imminent

hreat f the troubadour'sreturn o the

palace grounds,

o

the

soldiers'

pleas

to be retold the

story

of Count Luna's

younger

brother.

This

passage

covers some

thirty

ars

of the introduction

n

a

moderate

tempo,

nd

the modulation s

again

achieved

by

a

re-interpretation

f B. It

can thus be

thought

f

as

illustrating

two-faced

iew of

Manrico as seen

by

his enemies

n

the

opera,

one which

parallels

the

two sides of

Azucena's

personality:

B as

the

fifth

f the scale of

E

representing

he

threatening

troubadour

'All'erta '),

B

as the thirdof the scale of G

representing

he

old

Count

Luna's

helpless

child

Garzia

('Dalle

gravi palpebre').

This

introduction

s followed

by

the

ballata,

in which the modulation

from

E

minorto G major is telescoped nto the space of two shortphrases in a

quick tempo.

This second modulation

s a local

phenomenon,

oo

brief

o

profit

from an

explicit pivot-note

relation,

and

serves to

highlight

he

words

zingara'

and

fanciullo'.

(3) Large-scale unity:

Petrobelli's

analysis

seeks

to

relate features

far

apart

in the

opera,

in

places

where

one

might

not have

otherwise

looked

for

important

musical

relationships

unless

a

memorable

tune

or motif

were

being quoted

literally.

ne

of

his

most

exciting

iscoveries

concerns

lyrical hrase

sung

by

Leonora

in

her

Act

I

cavatina,

which

he

identifies

ith a similar

but

by

no means identicalmelodic

idea

given

to

Azucena in Act

III,

both

phrases being impassioned

expressions

of love

for Manrico

(see

Petrobelli,

Exs 6 and

7).

The

relationship

between these

phrases

is

one of melodic

shape,

and as such

it

does

not

appear

to

have a

specifically

tonal

significance;

in fact Petrobelli asserts

that the one

is

an

'almost

literal

transposition'

of the

other. But

I

think that

by

adopting

a

146

MUSIC

ANALYSIS

1:

2,

1982



6/12

TONAL

STRUCTURE IN

II

trovatore

wider view of

tonality

n

the

opera

we

shall

be able to attach

even

greater

meaning

o therelation

etween

hese

phrases.

III

My expansion

of

Petrobelli's deas

beginsby considering

he

principal

way

in

which

Verdi's stated

ntentions

n

conceiving

he

opera-his predomi-

nant

interest

n

the

ambivalentcharacter f Azucena-fall short of

his

actual achievements

n

the

final

omposition,

where Leonora

has as

big

a

musical

role

to

play

as

Azucena or indeed

anyone

else.'2

Thus the

polarity

ofE minor nd G major,clear-cut hough otally ontainedwithin single

character,

eems

bland in

comparison

with

the

potential

tonal

voltage

betweenAzucena and

Leonora,

whose

music moves

n

Ab

major

and

keys

closely

related

to it:

the

parallel key

of

Ab

minor,

the

relative

key

of

F

minor

and its

parallel major.

The

primary

iatonicscales

associated

with

these wowomen re

thus

maximally

ontrasting

s seven-note

ollections:

E-

F?

-

G

- A -

B -

C

- D

and

Ab

- BL-

C

-

Db

-

EL

- F -

G.

It

must follow from

this that these two

scales,

taken

together,

over

the

complete

hromatic cale.

The

question

arises: does Verdi

make the

fullest

use ofthis tonaldifferentialetweenAzucena and Leonora,notonlyas a

means of

contrast ut also

as a

way

of

creating

fulltonal

spectrum

o

be

brought

nto

play

in

the course of the

opera?

Budden,

in

his

chapter

n

II

trovatore,

eems to be

answering

his

question

only

partly

n

the affirm-

ative:

Most

striking

f

ll,

each

woman

nhabits er

own

phere

f

tonality-

Leonora

moves

n A

flat

nd

in

its

related

eys,

Azucena

hovers m-

biguously

etween

minor

nd

G

major,

he

first

ssociated

withher

thirst orrevenge,hesecond withherlove forManrico;and her

influence

eaches

o

A

minor

nd

C

major

s

well.

Again

t

must

be

emphasized

hat n

Verdi

venwhen

keys

re

exploited

t s

merely

s

contrasted

ystems

f

pitch

designed

o

keep

the

dramatic

lements

apart;

there

s no

attempt

o use

their

manifold

elationships

s

a

principle

f

tructure.13

Before

ooking

further

nto

the

contrast

etween

Azucena

and

Leonora

and

what it

might

mean

in

tonal

terms,

et

us

observe

that

even

the

polaritywithinAzucena'spersonality,etweenE minor nd G major,tells

only

half

the

story

f

key

relationships

dentified

ith

the

gipsy

world. As

Budden

intimatesn

the

passage

quoted

above,

we

ought

also to

include

the

mediant

relationship

n

the

other

ide of E

minor,

namely

betweenE

minor

nd C

major.

The

key

of

C is

often

ssociated n

the

opera

with

the

hardiness

and

courageous

spirit

of

the

gipsies,

and as

such

it

makes

its

MUSIC

ANALYSIS :

2,

1982

147



7/12

WILLIAM

DRABKIN

most

powerful appearance

at

Manrico's

moment of

greatest

eloquence

and, symbolically,

is utmost

display

of

courage:

the aria

Di

quella pira'whichconcludesActIII. The tonal

representation

fthis other ide of the

gipsy

world

also

arises out

of

a

pivotal

relation,

with

E

common

to

both

chords.

And

so

it is

possible,

by

the

simple

use of one

pivot

note

or

the

other,

for

E minor

to

yield

to

either ts

submediantor its mediant

(G

-

B

-

D/E

-

G

-

B/C

-

E

-

G).'4

This dual

polarity

uilt

around

E

minorfurther

trengthens

he

parallel

between

the

opening

scenes

in

Acts

I

and

II which Petrobellihas

already

deduced.

For,

as

we have

seen,

Verdi uses G

major

as a

secondarykey

n

the two

places

where the

text

refers o the

Count's

younger

brother:

bs

51-59 of the Introduction,nd bs 9-16 of the refrain f Ferrando'sbal-

lata.

Now

if

we ook

t the

corresponding

laces

n Act

I,

Scene

1,

where

he

text

depicts

the

rigours

of

gipsy

life

and

the

sufferings

f Azucena's

mother,

we

find

harmonic

movement rom

E

minor

to C

major,

with

E

clearly

sed as

a

pivot

note:

in

the

gipsies'

opening

anvil'

chorus

'Chi

del

gitano giorni

abbella?';

vocal

score,

p.

54,

system 1),

and

in

the

third

phrase

of Azucena's

canzone

'Urli

di

gioia';

vocal

score,

p.

59,

system

1).15

By

this

tonal

design

Verdi

not

only

pins

down the dramatic

parallels

between he twoscenes,butalso-by introducing majoras an important

secondary

key-implies

a

central

role for

E

minor

among

the three

keys

associated

with he

gipsies.

Thus

the

argest

onal

polarity

n

the

opera

can

be

regarded

s

the

opposition

f an

E

minor xis and

the

key

of

Ab

major:

G

major

E

minor

*

Ab

major

C Major

One

may

wish

to

argue

that his

polarity

would

be best eft

lone,

that t

is

best to

keep

Azucena's

and Leonora's

very

different

elationships

with

Manrico

completely

separate,

hence

musically

unrelated.

Yet

the fact

cannot

be

ignored

that the

critical

moments n the

action,

though

few

n

number,

hinge

upon

the

love of these

two

women

for

Manrico

and

his

equal

love for

them.

It seems

hardly

coincidental

that the

moment

of

Manrico's

unexpected

rescue

of

Leonora from

her

threatened

bduction

from he convent finaleof Act II) and themomenthe realizesthat he

must leave

Leonora to

go

to his

mother's rescue

(end

of Act

III)

should

both be marked

in the score

with a chord

whose

appearance

is

intention-

ally surprising

and whose

resolution shows

a clear

link to one or the

other

poles

of tonal

opposition

in the

opera.

The chord

in

question

is

E

major;

and we can

regard

it as

a union of

elements fromboth

poles, namely

the

148 MUSIC

ANALYSIS

:

2,

1982



8/12

TONAL STRUCTURE N

II

trovatore

root and fifth

f

E

minor,

and

the root of the

Ab

chord

re-interpreted

enharmonically

as

G?(E

-

G

- B

+

Ab

- C -

Eb =

E

-

G?

-

B).

This enharmonic

elationship

s farmorethana theoretical

bstraction;

Verdi

actually puts

it

into

practice

at an

early

stage

in

the

opera.

In

Leonora's 'Tacea la notte'

n

Act

I,

the final

Ab

of the second

strophe

f

the

cavatina s

converted o

G:

in the

ensuingdialogue

with nes

(vocal

score,

p.

26,

system

).

The effect

ould

hardly

be

more dramatic:

s

Ines

expresses

her

doubts about

Leonora's

ideal

love affairwiththe

trouba-

dour,

the

harmony

wervesfrom

Ab

into A

minor,

by way

of an

inter-

mediary

E

major

(=

Fb

major)

chord:

Ex.1

Leonora: Clel

ser

b

Ine:

Ouan

-

to

nar-ras

-

ti

di

tur-ba -

men

-

to

(violins)

2

But local dramaticexigency s not the onlyreason for this enharmonic

change.

By making

the

music for

this

dialogue tonally

remotefrom

Ab,

Verdi is

able

to return o it

for he

cabaletta

'Di

tale

amor';

vocal

score,

p.

28,

system )

as a

fresh-sounding

ey.

This scena s the

only

one

in

the

opera

in

which both

elementsof

a

two-part

musical

structure-cavatina

and

cabaletta-are

in

the same

key;

and

its

special

tonal

design

enables

Verdi to

identify

eonora

unambiguously

with

the

key

of

Ab

while at

the

same time

ensuring

hat

the second

Ab

section

does

not

sound like a

mere

tonal

prolongation'

f the first.

The

effect

f the

modulation

n

Ex.

1

is to

place

the

pitch-class

Ab/G?

in a newintervallicnvironment:nsteadofbeingboundedfrom boveby

a

tone

T)

and

from

elow

by

a semitone

S),

it

is bounded from

elow

by

a tone

and from

bove

by

a

semitone:

n

ALb

major

7

-

i

-2

=

G-

Ab

-

Bb

=

S,

T,

and

in

A

minor 6

-

$7

-

1

=

F

-G#-

A

=

T,

S. It

is

this

exchange

f

position

within he diatonic

cale

which, believe,

gives

these

modulations

by

pivot

their

dramatic

power.

It

may

be noted

in

passing

that

enharmonic

e-interpretation

f the

pivot

is

usually

a

suf-

ficient onditionfor

this

exchange

of

tone and

semitone,

but it

is

by

no

means a

necessary

one. In

two

passages

cited

by

Kerman in

the

Ballo

forum,16 major s followedbyDLbmajorwiththesameconsequencefor

the

pitch-class

F. This

is

fully exploited

in

the earlier

passage,

the love

duet in

Act

II,

where

Riccardo's

persuasive

wooing

in F

major

is the

perfect

foil for

Amelia's

response

in D

b

expressing

her

fear,

anguish

and

guilt.

The contrast of

mood is

highlighted

by

the use

of F

as a

melodic

pivot

in

the vocal

parts.

MUSIC

ANALYSIS :2,

1982

149



9/12

WILLIAM

DRABKIN

IV

Insofar s theopeningkeyofII trovatores specifically major,which we

can

regard

as a union

of the two main tonal

forces,

t

is a

legitimate

starting-point

or he

unfolding

f

tonality

n the

opera.

Such a view

of

the

tonal

design

would,

I

admit,

quite rightly

be

seen

as static and

uninteresting-indeed,

rritatingly

mannered-were it not

possible

to

show an interaction etween his

generalunifying ey

and the two

specific

areas

of characterization: minor nd

its related

keys

and

A

major.

For

this reason

it

is

important

o look more

closely

at two critical

moments

where he

E

major

chord s

introduced.

In

the

big

ensembleof the

opera,

the

finale f Act

II,

the chord

appears

at themoment f Manrico's unexpected rrival n stageand his rescue of

Leonora

from

Count Luna's soldiers

vocal

score,

p.

117,

system

).

It

is

spelt

as an

F

b

major

chord

and

functions s the flattened ubmediant f

Ab

(Ex.

2);

thus t

prepares

us for

Leonora's solo

(climaxing

n Sei tu

dal

ciel disceso

..

.'),

which

sets the mood of the remainder of

the scene:

Ex.2

Ab:

I

?

I

The other critical

passage

involving

E

major

occurs

at the end of Act

III,

when

Manrico

announces

that

he will

go

to the

rescue

of his mother.

Here Verdi

shows

the

relationship

f

E

major

to the

tonal

forces ssociated

withthe

gipsy

world,

hat

s,

as the

major

mediant

of

C

major.

The chord

is

introduced

t the

momentRuiz concludes

his

agitated

report

of Azu-

cena's capture nd impending oom ('Accesa e giraa pira'; vocal score,p.

173,

system

to

p.

174,

system

1).

His

melodic

ine climaxeson the

final

note,E,

which

s

sung

to

the

word

pira'.

This

E

is taken

over,

n

turn,

by

both

Leonora

and

Manrico,

and

it

ultimately

ecomes

the first

melody

note

of

Manrico's

'Di

quella

pira'.

Thus

the connection

etween

the sur-

prise

E

major

chord nd the

subsequent

onality-C

major-is emphasized

by

a

pivot

which

s both musical and verbal.

Ex.

3

Ruiz: Leo nora

Manrico:

Manr co:

la

p

- ra

o

tu

fre-

.

E

;I

deg-gioa

.

Di

quegl-a

pi

r

150

MUSIC

ANALYSIS

1:

2,

1982



10/12

TONAL STRUCTURE IN

II

trovatore

A

finalword about the

two main female haracters s

further

upport

for

the

importance

f

E major

and the enharmonic elationbetween

G?

and

A

b.

The charactersnever meet in the

drama,

and it is

appropriate

hat

their tonal areas

are

maximally

distant

fromeach other.

However,

Pet-

robelli has called our attention

o

one close musical

correspondence

e-

tween

them,

n the two

phrases

expressing

heir ove

for

Manrico

(see

Petrobelli,

Exs 6 and 7 and

commentary).

ere the word almost'

is

cru-

cial,

since

what

makes the

relationship

o

extraordinary

s the

very

fact

that

one

phrase

s not a

literal

ransposition

f

the other.The

relationship

between them is

really

based on two

interpretations

f the same

pitch-

class,

G?/Ab,

in

different armonic

ettings.

Both

phrases

startwith

the

samenote,repeated everaltimes, onsonant n itslocal surroundingsut

unstable

n

the

context f the entire

phrase:

Leonora's

Ab

is the

key-note

of

Ab

major,

but it is

harmonized

y

an

F

minor

chord;

Azucena's

G?,

as

the third

cale-step

of

E

major,

s

melodically

nstable.

n

both

phrases

a

stable

outcome s reached

t the

end,

as Ex.

4

indicates:

Ex.4

(a)

Leonora,

Act

I

scene

2

(b) Azucena,

Act

II

scene

2

Ab:

VI

u

(I)

E: I

V

I

In

attempting

to

extend

Petrobelli's

tonal

view of

II

trovatore,

have

taken

the

relation of

the

music to

the drama

beyond

the

identification

of

characters with

specific

pitch-classes

and

related

tonalities. I

have

felt

that,

however

nwaveringly

n

self-determinationhe main

characters

res-

ent

themselves

n

the

course of

the

drama,

they

do confront

ne another

on

stage

(excepting,

iterally,

eonora and

Azucena)

and

interactmusi-

cally; and this nteractions manifested ychordprogressionsnd modu-

lations.The

affinity

etween

E

minor

nd

G

major

through

he

pivot-note

B is

the

clearest

onal

relation n

the

score and the

obvious

starting-point

for

establishing

more

extensive

ystem.

n

order to

include

Leonora in

this

scheme it

is

necessary

o

invoke

the enharmonic

quivalence

of

G#

and

Ab,

though

Verdi

has himself

establishedthis at

the

earliest

op-

portunity;

o

Ab

major

we

can

also

associatethe

relative

key

of F

minor,

which

s

featurednAct IV.

Since thetonal

system

s

circular,

tis

always

possible

to

travel

between

twokeys n either f twodirections,nd an enharmonic e-interpretation

can

shorten

the

distance between

remotely

related

keys.

The critical

events n

the

score

of

II

trovatore

may

be

thought

f

as

dividing

he

tonal

circle

nto

three

qual

arcswhose

boundary

oints

remarked

by

C,

E

and

Ab

major:

the

keys

of

E

minor

nd G

major

are

placed

close to C to

form

the

E

minor

xis'

described

arlier:

MUSIC

ANALYSIS

1

:

2,

1982

151



11/12

WILLIAM

DRABKIN

E

(opening

tonality

of

opera;

pivotal chord in

Acts

II

and

III)

AZUCENA

(amor

materno)

G

e

(amorfiliale)

(despair)

f

(gipsy courage, C LEONORA

Manrico's

heroism)

A

(heroism)

The

primacy

f

E

lies

in

the factthat

the

parallel

key

relationbetween

E

minor nd

E

major

inkstwo of the

three onal

regions

long

the circle.

t

is

this

special

connectionwhich enables

E

major

not

only

to

be used as a

tonal reference ointforall the forcesof good in the opera, but also to

clarify-by

means of ts

parallel

minor-the central ole of the

character

f

Azucena.

NOTES

1.

This

is an

expanded

version

of

a

paper

read at the second biennial Confer-

ence

on

Nineteenth-Century

usic,

Cambridge,

July

1980.

2.

See

Joseph

Kerman's

observations

n

the move

from

F

to D

b

twice

in

Un

ballo n

maschera,

n

'Viewpoint',

19th-Century

usic,

Vol.

2,

No.

2,

1978,

p.

190.

3.

See

in

particular

Alfred

Lorenz,

'Das Finale

in

Mozarts

Meisteropern',

Die

Musik,

Vol.

19, 1927,

pp.

621-32.

4.

Siegmund

Levarie,

'Key

Relations

in

Verdi's Un

ballo

in

maschera',

19th-

Century

Music,

Vol.

2,

No.

2,

1978,

pp.

143-7;

Kerman,

Viewpoint',

bid.,

pp.

186-91;

further

eplies by Guy

A. Marco and

Levarie,

ibid.,

Vol.

3,

No.

1, 1979,

pp.

83-9.

5.

Elliott

Antokoletz,

Verdi's

Dramatic

Use

of

Harmony

nd

Tonality

n Mac-

beth',

n

Theory nly,

Vol.

4,

No.

6,

Nov.-Dec.

1978,

pp.

17-28.

6.

Levarie,

Key

Relations',

p.

143.

7.

Lorenz,

Der

musikalische

ufbau

von

Richard

Wagners

Tristan und

Isolde',

Vol. 2 ofDas Geheimnis er FormbeiRichardWagnerBerlin,1926).

8.

Gabriele

Baldini,

The

Story of

Guiseppe

Verdi,

trans.

Roger

Parker

(Cambridge:

CUP,

1980),

Ch.

5

('I1l

trovatore'),

speciallypp.

212-14.

9. The idea is also

developed

n Antokoletz's

tudy

f

Macbeth.

10.

For

instance,

within

ne

long

section

of

Act

II

framed n

A

minor,

n

which

Azucena recounts

he

story

f her mother o

Manrico,

the

tonality

moves

to

152

MUSIC

ANALYSIS

:

2,

1982



12/12

TONAL

STRUCTURE N

II

trovatore

G

major

for discrete ix-bar

phrase

'Ei

distruggeasi

n

pianto')

and

then-

via the

pivot

B-to a second

discrete

passage

in

E

minor

a

recall

of

the

'Stride a vampa'music).

11. It

may

be

objected

that,

t

the

beginning

f the

opera,

the

modulation

s

from

E

major

rather

han

E

minor.

The

reason for

his,

believe,

s that

t

was an

essential

part

of Verdi's

overall

trategy

o

begin

the

opera

in

the

major

mode,

with

G?

as the third

degree

of the

scale;

I discuss

this

point

ater

n.

12. At the

1980

conference

see

note

1

above) Julian

Budden

reported

his

dis-

covery

of a librettofrom bout

1850 for a Trovatore n

which the

part

of

Leonora

was

indeed

reduced

to a

comprimaria.

e

believes thatthe

existence

of

this

slightly

arlier

ibretto

may

have

prompted

Verdi

to

rethink he

scen-

ario for

his

Trovatore

nd

expand

the

role of the

heroine.

13. JulianBudden, TheOperasofVerdi,Vol. 2 (London: Cassell, 1978),p. 70.

14

The

twofold

possibility

for

modulation

from E

minor

by

pivot-note

helps

explain

why

Verdi

chose

B

as

the

pitch-class

o

represent

Azucena.

Both B

and

G

can

serve

as a

pivot

from

minor

o G

major;

but

since G can

also

be

used between

E

minor

nd

C

major,

that

note

would be

capable

of

introduc-

ing

an

element

of

ambiguity

nto

Verdi's

modulatory rocedures.

No

such

ambiguity

s

possible

with

B

or

E,

since

each

is common

to

just

two

of the

three

hords.

I am

grateful

o Dr

Eric Graebner

for

calling

this

point

to

my

attention.

15.

Note, too,

that n

orderto

emphasize

C

major

Verdi

departed

from

'normal'

harmonization. n the Anvil Chorus,a C-pedal is prolongedfor a fulleight

bars,

throughout

he

phrase

'Chi

del

gitano

i

giorni

abbella?',

and

thus

clashes with

the

dominant-seventh

hord

on

G. In

the

third

phrase

of

Azu-

cena's

canzone,

n

almost

modal

harmonisation

esultsfrom

he

composer's

under-emphasis

f

G

major

note

especially

he

bass F ? at

intorno').

16.

Kerman,

Viewpoint',p.

190.

MUSIC

ANALYSIS

1

:2,

1982

153

Characters, Key Relations and Tonal Structure in 'Il Trovatore'

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