Quarter-Tone Dissertation

Example 3.11

Alois Hába, Suite für vier Posaunen, Mvt. II, Andante cantabile, mm. 1-4

The second movement begins with a prolongation of an A-flat major triad. Example 3.11a shows the first four measures, reduced to a single bass staff. Example 3.11b shows how the A–flat major triad is prolonged by non-chord tones, although the enharmonic spellings of the upper neighbours does not reflect their functions in an obvious way. I'd prefer that the notation reflect a neighbouring motion with adjacent notes on the staff so that, for example, the opening three notes in the upper voice appear as some kind of E-F-E motion instead of E-E-E decorated with accidentals. In Example 3.11c, I've attempted to respell the neighbouring notes with enharmonic equivalents but because there is no good way to represent a five-quarters-flat accidental, it's hard to notate the pitch one quarter-tone above A-flat as some kind of B.

« PREV   Example 3.11   NEXT »