Alois Hába's Suite für vier Posaunen

I open this chapter by stating that one could hardly write a dissertation about quarter-tone music without examining the music of Alois Hába. This is, of course, hyperbole, but had I neglected to mention Hába, I would have missed one of the most important figures in quarter-tone music.

Hába is known for a deliberate avoidance of thematic repetetion, which can make it hard to analyse (or even listen to!) some of his longer works. For example, Matka is a longish opera, and can be particularly challenging. Not only is the tuning unfamiliar, but Hába's refusal to make the thematic material familiar through repetition gives you very little to hang your hat on. Examining a set of miniatures allows me to sidestep this problem because in a ten-measure miniature, there isn't much musical space for thematic repetition. These five minatures for trombone quartet exhibit small binary and ternary forms, and as with most of the music in this dissertation, they make allusions to tonal practices.

Contents of Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Alois Hába's Suite für vier Posaunen: The current version of this chapter, saved as a PDF.
Example 3.3: Hába's illustration of contrary contrapuntal motion between fields.
Example 3.4: Hába's illustration of tone centrality.
Example 3.5: Suite für vier Posaunen, Mvt. I, Maestoso, mm 1-2.
Example 3.11: Suite für vier Posaunen, Mvt. II, Andante cantabile, mm 1-4.
Example 3.12: Suite für vier Posaunen, Mvt. II, Andante cantabile, mm 23-25.
Example 3.13: Suite für vier Posaunen, Mvt. II, Andante cantabile, mm 4-7.
Example 3.14: Suite für vier Posaunen, Mvt. II, Andante cantabile, mm 17-20.
Example 3.15: Suite für vier Posaunen, Mvt. III, Allegretto scherzando, melody, mm 1-7.
Example 3.18: Suite für vier Posaunen, Mvt. III, Allegretto scherzando, mm 11-16.
Example 3.19: Suite für vier Posaunen, Mvt. III, Allegretto scherzando, mm 15-19.
Example 3.20: Suite für vier Posaunen, Mvt. IV, Moderato cantabile, mm 1-4.