Inside Luciano Berios Serialism

cniIs1oin NrIoniri
INsIor LicI~No BriIos SriI~iIs:musa_275 301..348

Like many other composers who later distanced themselves from serialism,
Luciano Berio (19252003) embraced the technique for a number of years in the
1950s. His ultimate rejection of serialism notwithstanding, Berio credited it as a
signicant source of inspiration during a period of his life in which, as he later put
it, I really made up for all the time Id lost in the provinces, especially during the
war, and in Milan immediately after the war (Berio 1985 [1981], p. 63).Without
aligning himself too closely with any particular school of serial thought for too
long, Berio adopted and developed the techniques he encountered in the music
of his contemporaries especially Luigi Dallapiccola, Henri Pousseur, Karel
Goeyvaerts, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Bruno Maderna before relinquishing
serialism altogether by 1958. Despite Berios eventual rejection of the technique,
the serial experience of those years continued to have a strong impact on his
development as a composer into the 1960s and beyond.
Ex. 1 lists the serial works from 1951 to 1958, spanning the time from his
early twelve-note composition Due pezzi for violin and piano to the works just
prior to the ute Sequenza. The rst six works listed, up to Nones, employ largely
orthodox serial procedures where the pitch rows are generally recognisable on
the musical surface, with serial principles eventually extending into parameters
other than pitch (in Nones). In the remaining works listed, written between 1955
and 1958, Berio subjects his serial materials to more elaborate processes of
transformation which are much more difcult to decipher. Although the prin-
ciples of Berios early serialism from 1951 to 1954 are well known, his later serial
techniques from 1955 to 1958 are still little understood.
1
There are three reasons
for this: rst, in his writings and interviews Berio provided only limited infor-
mation on his serial works;
2
second, it is nearly impossible to decipher the
composers later, complex serial techniques from the published scores alone; and
third, only one sketch survives for the works listed from 19558, for Allelujah I,
making this the only one of these serial compositions whose serial structure can
be determined with certainty.
This article examines Berios compositional techniques in three serial works
from his serial period: Nones (1954), Quartetto per archi (19556) and Allelujah I
(19556). The aim of this study is threefold, namely to show which serial
materials Berio used, how he employed them, and why he used them in the ways
he did. I have chosen these pieces not only because of their chronological
proximity and shared compositional aesthetic, but also because they are
advanced serial works from the composers oeuvre for which a number of
helpful, if incomplete, sources exist. These include Berios own comments on
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2249.2011.00275.x
Music Analysis, 28/ii-iii (2009) 301
2011 The Author.
Music Analysis 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK
and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA
Allelujah I in his 1956 article Aspetti di artigianato formale (Aspects of Formal
Craft), two pages of analytical notes on Nones, a preliminary draft score for
Allelujah I, program notes for Nones and Allelujah II and various discussions of
serialism in his writings and interviews. No sketches survive for the Quartetto;
nevertheless, valuable information on its construction can be found in the article
on Berio by Piero Santi, published in Die Reihe 4 in 1958. In view of the sparse
extant primary sources, I shall demonstrate that Berios serialism from 1955
onwards is best understood from a historical angle which has thus far been little
explored: the inuence of Bruno Maderna (19201973), Berios mentor and
close collaborator at the Studio di fonologia musicale in Milan at the time.
Since rst-hand information on why and, albeit to a much lesser extent, how
Berio employed serial techniques can be obtained from his own commentaries,
his thoughts on serial composition will be reviewed in Part I. Part II examines
Nones and shows how the integral serialism of this work (involving pitch, rhythm,
dynamics and modes of attack), while subject to specic rules, presented Berio
with considerable exibility in his compositional choices. Part III investigates the
serial materials in the Quartetto in comparison with Madernas String Quartet,
written a year earlier, whose manuscript draft score, complete with its compos-
ers analytical markings, Berio owned. As will be shown, Maderna paired strict
serial techniques with a exibility of application in composition, a procedure
which appealed greatly to Berio. Part IV demonstrates how one can decode the
serialism employed in Allelujah I through a close reading of Berios discussion of
the work (as incomplete, from a technical point of view, as that discussion may
be) in conjunction with an analysis of the surviving draft score. While prior
commentators, possibly misled by Berios own account, have suggested that the
works principal structure is only partially serial, it will be shown here that the
structure is in fact serialised throughout. The later stages of the compositional
process in Allelujah I where Berio recombines and transforms the serial mate-
rials with considerable freedom clearly show the inuence of Maderna.
I. Berios Views on Serialism
Berio expressed his thoughts on serialism in largely critical terms. A number of
excerpts from his writings and interviews illustrating what he saw as the benets
Ex. 1 Berios major serial works of 19518
Due pezzi for violin and piano (195I, rev. 1966)
Study for string quartet (1952, rev. 1985)
Cinque variazioni for piano ( 19523, rev. 1966)
Chamber Music for female voice, cello, clarinet and harp ( 1953)
Variazioni for chamber orchestra (19534)
Nones for orchestra (1954)
Quartetto per archi (1955-6)
Allelujah l for six instrumental groups (19556)
Serenata l for flute and fourteen instruments (1957)
Allelujah II for five instrumental groups (19568)
302 cnnis1oin Ncibno rcn
Music Analysis, 28/ii-iii (2009) 2011 The Author.
Music Analysis 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
and pitfalls of serial composition can help us better understand why and how the
composer adopted serialism in the 1950s, and why serial thinking strongly
inuenced his entire compositional career. A close reading of Berios comments,
in conjunction with an examination of his compositional strategies in the three
selected works, will conrm that his famous attack on the Twelve-Tone Horse,
from 1968, did not represent a change in his attitude towards serialism. Rather,
with this attack he pointed precisely at the kinds of problems which he himself
had recognised and already overcome a decade earlier.
Berio saw serialism as, at its best, a powerful tool for discovering new musical
territories; at its worst, however, it was too vulnerable to formalistic attitudes
devoid of musical substance.The latter point lies at the core of his 1968 polemic:
I would go as far as to say (as my anger comes back) that any attempt to codify
musical reality into a kind of imitation grammar (I refer mainly to the efforts
associated with theTwelve-Tone System) is a brand of fetishism which shares with
Fascism and racism the tendency to reduce live processes to immobile, labeled
objects, the tendency to deal with formalities rather than substance ... . This is
why I am very much against the formalistic and escapist attitude of twelve-tone
composition. In losing himself in the manipulation of a dozen notes, a composer
runs the risk of forgetting that these notes are simply symbols of reality; he may,
in addition, end up ignoring what sound really is. (Berio 1968, p. 169)
For Berio, at the heart of the problem lies a common misunderstanding of the
relationship between analysis-turned-theory and composition:
A composer can give a descriptive analysis of his own work and can bring to bear
the analytical tools from past musical experience. A structural description of a
piece of music cannot, however, account for the meaning of that piece unless it is
placed in a historical continuity. By the same token a theory derived from
analysis can never legitimately be used as a tool for producing music. Attempts to
do this betray an idea of musical language based solely on procedures for com-
bining elements, which is, to say the least, irrelevant to any serious discussion of
music. (Berio 1968, pp. 16970)
And Berio concludes:
A theory cannot substitute for meaning and idea; a discrete analytical tool can
never be turned to creation by dint of polishing and perfecting it. It is poetics
which guide discovery and not procedural attitudes; it is idea and not
style ... . This basic fact has been missed by those who insist on trying to create
a twelve-tone utopia of twelve-tone coherence by forcing on us the dubious
gift of twelve-tone melodies in which, as someone has written, the twelve-tone
rhythmic structuralization is totally identical (sic) with the structuralization of the
twelve tones.
3
Alas, this industrialized twelve-tone horse, dull on the outside and
empty inside, constantly being perfected and dragged to a new Troy in shadow
of an ideological war long since fought and won by responsible minds like
Schoenberg, with neither systems nor scholarship for armor! (Berio 1968,
p. 171)
INsibc LcciaNo Bcnios ScniaLis: 303
Although Berio briey embraced integral serialism himself, he never believed
in excessive interchangeability between acoustic parameters (Berio 1985
[1981], p. 65). Separating out musical parameters made sense to him only
insofar as he could be certain that these came out of, and would ultimately be
reintegrated back into, a meaningful whole. Looking back in 1981, he explained:
As everybody knows, one of the most important and symptomatic aspects of the
serialist experience was the separation of musical parameters ... . When this
dividing up of parameters was applied scholastically, for analytical purposes, to
musical pieces where the solidarity between intervals, durations, instrumental
timbre, intensity and register was organically implicit in the expressive and struc-
tural design of the piece, then the operation had, and still has, a meaning. It was
rather like examining the separate pieces of a motor while knowing that the
elementary sum of these parts didnt constitute the motor (our perception always
plays such tricks on us).The problems started when, inevitably, people began going
in the opposite direction, taking unattached pieces, separate parameters, and
putting them together under the indifferent and uniform light of abstract propor-
tions, and the waiting for the unveiling of the piece (or the non-piece which is after
all the same thing because, as you know, by night all cats are grey).
4
(Berio 1985
[1981], pp. 689)
In order for a structure to be meaningful, Berio believed, it must thus be
conceived as an entity, as a concrete musical object which makes sense, rather
than as an assembly of disparate components (as integrated as the compilation of
the parameters may be from a serial point of view).
5
At the centre of Berios serial
practices lies the design of such concrete musical objects which in turn are
subjected to various processes of transformation, serial or otherwise. In Nones,
the basic materials are pitch series with characteristic rhythmic and dynamic
proles which are transformed according to a rule regulating the possible choices
of durations, dynamics and articulation. The Quartetto consists of different
readings of a basic sound material which freely omit (and possibly add) pitches,
change rhythms and registers, and vary timbre and instrumentation.
6
And in
Allelujah I Berio established an initial material, fully worked out in terms of pitch,
rhythm and (provisional) register, whose internal serial pitch layers are then
reread by projecting them onto different rhythmic planes and then superimpos-
ing and re-orchestrating the resulting structures.The three works to be discussed
here are serial in the sense that their initial sound materials (whose pitch and
rhythmic dimensions, at least, are fully worked out) are built from one or several
pitch series. The transformations of these materials may be guided by serial rules
(as in the choices of parameter values in Nones or the rhythmic projections in
Allelujah I), or may be free. Whatever the principles of transformation, however,
Berios aim was to create coherence and musical sense that transcended the
serial machinery. He had a clear vision of, and maintained full control over, how
the music would ultimately sound. In Piero Santis words:
Never during the entire creative process [in Nones] does Berio forget what is to be
its end-product. Here is the basis of his artistic freedom and his excellence as a
craftsman. These are still more clearly manifest in the Quartet, since the connec-
tions tying them to the basic scheme, though less directly visible than in Nones, are
clear within the musical coherence of the whole work, as that unity of all details
that I have already mentioned. In his most recent work [the Quartet] Berio again
shows, more clearly than before, that he relies not on the formal guarantee
provided by an abstract, cerebral scheme, but on his own creative energy. Berios
fantasy does indeed always create a plan, but this is in order to play within its
limits, to vary it without invalidating it, to enrich it without obscuring it beneath
a mass of dovetailings and superstructures. His fantasy loves clear form, of the
kind demanded by the artistic tradition to which Berio himself belongs. (Santi
1960 [1958], pp. 1012)
II. Nones
Berio composed Nones in 19534, after he rst attended the Darmstadt Summer
Courses.
7
Whereas the previous works leading up to the Variazioni were modeled
on the serial counterpoint of the Second Viennese School and Luigi Dallapi-
ccola, with whom the composer had studied at Tanglewood in 1952, Nones was
Berios rst (and possibly only) integrally serial work in which serial transfor-
mation is applied to four distinct parameters. The choice of the four parameters
pitch or pitch class, duration, dynamics and mode of attack was inuenced by
developments which took place at Darmstadt in the four years prior to Berios
arrival: Olivier Messiaen had dened these parameters, although without treat-
ing them serially, in his piano tude Mode de valeurs et dintensits, written at the
Darmstadt courses in 1949.
8
Soon thereafter, Karel Goeyvaerts (in his Sonata
forTwo Pianos, 19501), Karlheinz Stockhausen (in Kreuzspiel, 1951) and Pierre
Boulez (in Structure Ia, 19512), among others, began to subject each of these
four parameters to serial permutation.
9
In the years which followed, the number
of parameters was expanded to include more dimensions, such as density (the
number of attacks per time unit and the number of pitches per set, among
others), tempo, register, and so on.
10
Beginning in 1952, Stockhausen adopted
what he would later come to call group composition (Gruppenkomposition), a
technique dedicated to producing an agglomeration of sound.
11
Berio rapidly
absorbed what he encountered in Darmstadt and soon went beyond it. Charac-
terising Nones as his rst reaction to Darmstadt, he subjected the by then
classical four parameters of pitch class, duration, dynamics and mode of attack
to a permutational procedure that was based on a clearly dened rule, yet which
at the same time gave him a welcome degree of choice.
12
Ex. 2 presents a translation of an analytical note for Nones in which Berio
explains how numerical values were assigned to the four parameters and then
combined.
13
The choice of parameters followed the rule stated at the bottom of
the note: for any event, the numerical values of the four parameters must always
add up to nine or more; if the sum exceeds nine, the event will have to be
followed by a quaver rest. The series, shown at the top of the example, is
RI-symmetrical and contains thirteen elements, duplicating pitch class D in the
second- and penultimate-order positions. The members of the series are num-
bered from 1 to 13, but in the compositional process Berio used the numbering
added below in square brackets.
14
The durations are assigned values 1 to 4, with
a choice of two durations for each of values 2 to 4. (The second choices consist
of durations shorter than a quaver, the rst choices of durations longer than a
quaver.) The dynamics are listed with values 1 to 5, with two choices each for
values 1 and 2. (The second choices present the softest dynamics.) The modes of
attack are assigned values of 1, 2 or 3, with multiple choices for each of them.
15
Berios rule stated at the bottom is modelled after the synthetic number
pioneered by Goeyvaerts in his Sonata for Two Pianos. In the central two
movements of this work, pitch classes, durations, dynamics and modes of attack
are assigned numerical values ranging from 0 to 4; every pitch in the score is
assigned a duration, dynamic level and mode of attack such that the numerical
values sum to exactly 7.
16
Berios synthetic number is 9, a reference to the title
of the poem by W. H. Auden which inspired Nones.
17
As in Goeyvaertss work, Berios preparatory materials and governing rule
dene a type of integral serialism which permits the composer a good deal of
freedom. Not only are there multiple ways of balancing the numerical values
among the four parameters, but there are frequently multiple choices for a
particular value.
18
This allows Berio to inuence the outcome of his serial
Ex. 2 Translation of Berios analytical note for Nones (Berio 1985, plate 4, second
page)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [6] [5] [4] [3] [2] [1]
pitches +
3
+ [a]
3
[b]
choice
durations
dynamics + [a] all values beyond 9 become a quaver rest
[b]
mode of attack + [a] free
[= no ind.]
tenuto stacc.
legato [b] frull[ato]
[c] tremolo
[a] trill
[b]
The pitches will be realised always keeping in mind that the sum of the individual elements reaches and also surpasses 9
every unit exceeding 9 is worth a quaver rest.
processes more directly and to a degree unavailable in more rigid serial struc-
tures. For example, the composer may decide to use mainly the short note values
(between a semiquaver and a quaver) or mainly the longer note values (between
a quaver and a crotchet) within the full range of numbers 1 to 4. Or, he may
choose to use only soft dynamics, balancing the corresponding numerical values
in the other parameters accordingly. Ex. 3 reproduces the opening twelve bars of
the work, where four serial layers (P
5
, P
7
, P
10
and P
11
) are superimposed. The P
11
layer is extracted in Ex. 4a (the harp and alto saxophone of bars 110). Ex. 4b
summarises Berios choices for each of the four parameters. Ex. 4c converts the
entries in Ex. 4b to the corresponding numerical values and shows the sum for
each of the thirteen events.
19
The sums are either 9 or 10; in addition, they form
a palindrome,
20
a property not imposed by any a priori stipulation. Rather, Berio
chooses to stretch the succession of thirteen pitches by inserting a quaver rest
following every odd-numbered event except the rst and last, as shown by the
vertical arrows in Ex. 4a. The option of inserting a quaver rest is provided by
Berios rule positioned at the bottom of Ex. 2, which requires a sum of 10 or
higher for the addition of such a rest. The choice of the actual numerical value
(above 9) and location within the series is free, however.
As is evident from Ex. 4c, the fact that all sums are 9 or 10 requires Berio to
counterbalance the gradual numerical increase and decrease on the rst line
(given by the pitch-class series) elsewhere in the chart. He chooses to do this by
gradually decreasing and increasing the numerical values for the durations and
dynamics on the second and third line (although exceptions occur). The entries
on the fourth line are mainly set to the smallest value, 1, with few if any attack
indications given.
21
The exibility built into Berios rule allows himto generate textures with widely
differing characteristics and to create a kind of musical coherence which lies
beyondthe abstract serial structure.At the beginning of the work (see againEx. 3),
all four serial layers start out with predominantly louder dynamics; they then turn
to primarily softer dynamics in bars 47 before achieving a mixture of soft and
loud in bars 712. This clear overall dynamic development, in which all serial
layers participate, contributes in tandem with other factors to the passages
sense of directionandcohesion. As is typical for muchof Berios serial music, these
bars combine pointillist attacks with melodic gestures, such as the expressive leap
in the clarinet in bars 23 and similar leaps in the other instruments, including
violin (bar 5) and contrabassoon (bar 6). The succession of these latter gestures
generates direction; not only does the clarinet crescendo on D
in bar 2 lead us to
anticipate a consequent event an expectation which is fullled by the high A in
bar 3 but the entire clarinet gesture in bars 23 is then echoed and carried on by
the ensuing expressive leaps in the other instrumental parts.
22
In other words,
these gestures are not isolated events, but rather form a larger network of
corresponding elements. And this is why the gestures are meaningful; they have a
function beyond their individual appearance. (The compositional aesthetic here,
as throughout Nones, owes much toWebern in this respect.)
Ex. 3 Nones, bars 112, with serial analysis
Cb.
P :
P :
P :
P :
5
7
10
11
F/A /E
B
pizz.
G
3
B
D
D
B
B
B F
A
G E
E C
3
A
B
D
F
P :
t10
B
A
E
D
E
D
arco
A
D
D
A
G
G
A
F
C
Vlc.
sord. pizz.
3
arco
3
molto dim .
Vla
Vn C
sord.
Vn B
sord.
Vn A
sord.
Harp
3 3
3
3
3
Vibr.
Cel.
2 Tam-Tam
Tamb. milit.
Timp.
Tbn. 1
sord.
3
Hn 2
non troppo
3
Cbsn
Bsn
3
Cl. 1
Ob. 1
Fl. 1
= 7276
3
El. guitar
D
[B?]
Ex. 3 Continued
pizz.
3
3
3
3
gliss.
II. via sord.
3
I.
I.
7
(P :)
(P :)
(P :)
(P :)
(P :)
10
5
7
10
11
E
[E ]
D
F A
F
F
B
C
C G
D G
B
D
D F
B A F D E
(P :)
3
C B G F(etc.)
E F D B
Fl.
Ob.
Cl.
Sax.
Bsn
Tbn.
Timp.
Tamb.
Cel.
El. guitar
Harp
Vns
Vlas
Vlc.
Cb.
[ ]
(etc.)
[B ?]
[B ?]
The rule guiding the combination of parameters illustrated in Ex. 2 requires
the composer to make decisions with a clear sense of what the result is intended
to sound like, since the choice of one parameter affects the choices available with
respect to all of the others. In addition, the exibility built into the rule (sums can
be greater than 9 leading to added rests, multiple choices for some parameters)
provides further options which again need to be considered with a clear vision of
the expected sonic outcome. In the excerpt shown in Ex. 5, Berio chose a texture
(via the same serial rule) which pits the solo violins mostly rapid and delicate
gestures against a background of longer sustained dyads and single notes as well
as non-pitched percussion. All dynamics are soft. Ex. 6a analyses the parameters
Ex. 4 Analysis of Nones, P
11
layer, bars 110
(a) P
11
layer
(b) Parameters of P
11
layer
(c) Analysis of numeric values of the four parameters in the P
11
layer
6
6
3
5 4
3
3
Sax.
2 1
Harp
1 2
(a)
4 5 6 7 3
3
1
3
3
3
modes of attack:
dynamics:
durations :
pcs: 1 2 3 4 5 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 6
4b 3a 3b 2a 3b 1 1 1 3b 2a 3b 4a 4b
3 3 3 2a 1a 1a 1b 1a 1b 2a 3 1 2a
1a 1a 1b 1a 1a 1a 1a 1a 1a 1a 1a 2a 2b
sums: 9 9 10 9 10 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 9
(c)
modes of attack: no attack indication
dynamics:
durations :
pcs: B D B G E E A D C A F
legato
D
staccato
F
3 3 3 3 3 3
(b)
assigned to the main series I
0
in the solo violin. (All other serial statements are
fragments.) The low values for the dynamics (1 or 2 for ppp to p) and modes of
attack (1 and 2 for tenuto, legato, staccato and no attack mark) require Berio to
counterbalance the gradually increasing and decreasing values for the pitch
classes with overall decreasing and increasing numbers for the durations, in order
to keep the sums within a narrow band (between 8 and 11).
23
Where he has a
choice of two note values, Berio always picks the same alternative (in every case
a semiquaver for 4, a dotted quaver for 3 and a dotted semiquaver for 2), and
generally prefers the shorter duration.
24
The note values form a palindrome
which is ultimately distorted by the rests inserted in the nal version. Ex. 6b and
Ex. 5 Nones, bars 4048, with serial analysis
Cb.
div. uniti
pizz.
arco
div.
uniti
pizz.
Vlc.
1 Solo
3
pizz.
tutti
arco div.
pizz.
uniti
Vn solo
3
Vibr.
3
T. T.
Tamb.
Cl.
Timp.
40
= 126
(suono deco )
sord.
I :
0
I (14):
P (14):
5
C A C
F
B D
D
E G A
G
B G
A
E B B D F A F
I (15):
p (15):
5
5
F
F A
D F
E C
A C
B
11
3
G. C.
Cymbals
Guitar
3
c analyse the parameter values assigned to the remaining serial fragments in
Ex. 5. Here, Berio tends to realise durations using the larger of the available note
values (for example, value 4 in Ex. 6b is realised as a crotchet rather than a
semiquaver in the double basses of Ex. 5) in order to create the sustained
sonorities which contrast with the faster violin gestures.
25
In 1981 Berio
described his experience in Nones:
My rst reaction to Darmstadt and to Brunos benecial inuence, in other words
my rst exorcism[,] was Nones for orchestra which has nothing of Darmstadt or
Maderna in it, but which develops what was for me the main focus of research and
musical excitement during those years: the possibility of thinking musically in
terms of process and not of form [that is, form types] or procedure.
26
(Berio (1985
[1981]), p. 62)
By combining twelve-note serialism in the pitch domain with a kind of multiple-
choice integral serialism involving the other parameters (see again Ex. 2), Berio
provided himself with a framework which pushed his imagination towards dis-
covering new musical avenues that would otherwise have remained unexplored.
Ex. 6 Nones, parameters for bars 4048
(a) Parameters for I
0
(solo violin)
(b) Parameters for I
5
/P
11
(fragments) in bars 4042
(c) Parameters for I
5
/P
5
(fragments) in bars 4348
modes of attack:
dynamics:
durations :
pcs: 1 2 3 4
4a 3b+ 1 3a
2b 2b 1b 2b
2* 2** 2b*** 1a
(* legato/staccato in percussion, ** legato in guitar, *** pizz. = stacc.)
9 9 7(!) 10 sums :
(b)
modes of attack:
dynamics:
durations :
pcs: 1 2 3 4
4a 3b+ 1 3a
2b 2b 1b 2b
2a 2a 2a 2a
sums: 9 9 7(!) 11
5
4b
1b
2b
12
(c)
modes of attack:
dynamics:
durations :
pcs: 1 2 3 4 5 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 6
4b 4b 4b 2b 2b 3a 1 3a 2b 2b 4b 4b 4b
2b 2b 2b 1b 1b 1a 1b 1b 1b 1b 1b 1b 2b
2a 2a 2b 1a 1a 1b 1a 1b 1a 2a 2b 2b 2b
sums : 9 10 11 8(!) 9 10 9 10 11 11 9 9 9
(a)
And it is in this sense that integral serialism led him to what the composer
termed an objective enlargement of musical means, the chance to control a
larger musical terrain (Berio 1985 [1981], p. 65).
III. Quartetto per archi
Transformation of the parameters assigned to pitch material as in the Nones
series remained a central feature of Berios serial music. But given the absence
of sketches for most of the works from the 1950s, determining the transforma-
tion processes and the structures to which they were applied is no easy task. For
the serial Quartetto per archi, written in 19556, no sketches survive which would
document the compositional procedures, nor has the manuscript fair copy been
preserved. The only source of analytical information which probably goes back
to the composer himself can be found in Piero Santis article of 1958. Santi
explains, without providing score examples:
In the String Quartet there is less inner dependence [than in Nones] between
material and the scheme of construction, on one side, and, on the other, the way
they are carried through in music.The Quartet is built up wholly on permutations
of pitch-series, which recur in each sequence, and on sequence-permutations
which recur in each structure, because of the use of six different durations and a
particular intensity for each sequence. [In footnote:] Each structure consists of six
series of six sequences each. All the durations in these six series of six sequences,
i.e., 36 durations, are multiples of one of six basic values: semiquaver, demisemi-
quaver, triplet semiquaver, quintuplet semiquaver, triplet demisemiquaver, and
quintuplet demisemiquaver.Thus for example in the rst structure the durations in
each of the six series of sequences are multiples of 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11.This means that
each duration in the rst sequence-series is one of the six fundamental values, while
in the second sequence-series each duration corresponds to one of the fundamental
values multiplied by three; in the third series the fundamental value is multiplied by
ve, in the fourth by seven, etc. Sequences, sequence-series and structures follow
each other exactly according to the scheme, in order then to achieve a synthesis in
the free articulation of the quartet-texture. [Continued in main text:] Thus it is a
matter of six different readings of the same material.
27
(Santi 1960 [1958]), p. 100)
Ex. 7ac reproduce three excerpts from the one-movement work, each of which
likely corresponds to what Santi calls a sequence. Each passage is built from the
same pitch-class materials, the two chromatic hexachords A and B. In Ex. 7ac,
the solid circles mark the members of hexachord A (AB
BCC
D), and the

dotted circles contain its complement, hexachord B.The segmentation into these
complementary hexachords is suggested by the rhythmic values used in Ex. 7a, to
be discussed shortly. With one exception, each statement of hexachord A in
Ex. 7ac presents the six pitch classes in a different ordering.
28
Likewise, hexa-
chord Bis reordered each time it recurs. Some statements are fragmented, such as
in bars 150 (Ex. 7b) and 224228 (Ex. 7c). The three excerpts present different
readings of the same hexachords. Santi describes Berios rereading practice as
follows:
Ex. 7a Berio, Quartetto, opening
VM e sempre
pizz.
3
3 3
arco
5
5
pizz.
arco
5
pizz.
VM e sempre
pizz.
3
3
VM e sempre
pizz.
3
arco
3 3
pizz.
arco
pizz.
arco
VM e sempre
3
3
= 96100
Ex. 7b Berio, Quartetto, bars 145150
pizz.
3
tast.
arco
via sord.
3
pizz.
5
arco
legno b.
3
arco
pizz.
3
legno b.
3
145
= 112
ord.
Ex. 7c Berio, Quartetto, bars 224228
3
pizz.
arco
pizz.
3
arco
3
5
224
= 72
5
5
But Berio makes the rigid skeleton of the structures produce stimuli and ideas,
and also a certain coherence within his material. Here he moves with unrestricted
freedom; he may leave out notes and durations or add some, he divides up
durations into periodically beaten rhythms, chooses registers with complete
freedom, and in all this he adheres by and large to the prescribed dynamics, within
the limits of his own taste, exploiting effects of timbre and instrumentation very
delicately. It would be interesting to follow from bar to bar the onward course and
the melting-down of the elements, while keeping the basic scheme before one. It
is typical of Berio that he lingers a short time over each of the individual elements,
till these take on a gurative shape within the resulting overall picture they do
this less as pointillistic formations than as a collective agglomerate. (Santi 1960
[1958], p. 100)
The three passages in Ex. 7ac give us a good idea of how this works. In
Ex. 7a Berio creates coherence by means of two timbral strata. Percussive,
irregular pizzicato attacks are pitted against sharp arco gestures of single or
double attacks, most of them played downbow. The two timbres chase each
other, creating forward momentum. Only the central register of the quartet is
used here, making the four instruments sound alike (all four parts here could in
fact be played by violins) and leaving the high and low ranges for later explora-
tion. The distribution of timbres (pizzicato versus arco) cuts across the hexa-
chordal structure. This also holds for Ex. 7b, where a third type of attack is
added, col legno battuto. Unlike the beginning of the work, the texture here is
widely spaced and the mood calm; the passage ends with a stark dynamic
contrast in the last bar. In Ex. 7c different types of attack again frequently cut
across the two hexachords. This passage too is quiet in character, this time
contrasting short arco and pizzicato gestures with longer sustained notes, the last
two played as ethereal harmonics. The semiquaver leaps which succeed each
other in the rst, second and fourth bars (rst violin, viola and cello), together
with the sustained pitches, provide gestural coherence.
But what is the rigid skeleton of the structures or basic scheme, mentioned
by Santi, which is being reread and transformed? Santis description suggests
that pitch (or pitch-class) structure, durations and possibly dynamics are part of
this scheme, while other dimensions such as register, timbre and instrumentation
are not prescribed by a particular plan. Since we have no documentation of the
basic scheme, it is perhaps appropriate to turn to a historical source which does
provide a plausible context for Berios serial techniques, namely Bruno Mader-
nas Quartetto per archi in due tempi from 1955. Maderna dedicated his Quartet
to Berio; Berio returned the favour the following year, dedicating his own
Quartetto to Maderna, at a time when the two composers were in very close
contact.
29
Madernas Quartet is in two movements, with the second presenting
an altered reading of the retrograde of the rst, freely ltering out pitches and
changing rhythms, dynamics, register and instrumentation. In 1981 Berio dis-
cussed the relationship between the rst and second movements of Madernas
Quartet:
[Madernas] Quartetto is in two parts. The rst, in all its aspects, is the product of
a strict combinatorial procedure; the second part is a retrograde reading of the
rst. But on the quantitative level its an impoverishing reading, one that lters,
eliminates, introduces spaces, and thus reorganizes the time-span and the material
that have just been heard on a different level, a level of the highest expressive
quality. (Berio 1985 [1981], p. 68)
Ex. 8a reproduces the end of the rst movement and Ex. 8b the beginning of
the second movement of Madernas Quartet. Ex. 8b is a varied retrograde of
Ex. 8a, projecting a markedly different, more aggressive character. Longer note
values are often subdivided or realised as loud tremoli in Ex. 8b (as in the rst and
second violins of bars 12). I have indicated the omitted pitch classes in square
brackets in Ex. 8b. In all probability, Berio must have studied not only the nal
version of Madernas Quartet, but also the latters short-score draft with its
analytical annotations.This manuscript, a brief excerpt from which is transcribed
in Ex. 9, was in Berios possession.
30
The dotted line in the second bar indicates
Ex. 8a Bruno Maderna, Quartetto per archi in due tempi, end of rst movement
5
T pizz.
5
5
(T) arco
V
NV
T
T
V NV
188
5
T
NV
5
C
(V)
C
(NV)
3
T
( pizz.)
3
3
3
3
3
T
V
3
NV (V)
8
C
3
3
184
3 3
T
the juncture between the two movements, from the point at which the texture
runs backwards. As the sketch reveals, Maderna superimposes two different
rhythmic strata. The one on the upper stave moves from triplet semiquavers to
quintuplet semiquavers and crotchets, and vice versa for the lower stave.
31
Berios Quartetto makes similar use of rhythmic layering. Ex. 10 segments the
rst six bars into the three distinct rhythmic layers, each of which is shown on a
separate stave (demisemiquavers on stave 1, triplet demisemiquavers on stave 2
and quintuplet demisemiquavers on stave 3). One can easily recognise how each
rhythmic layer articulates its own pitch-class material.The rst layer presents two
statements of hexachord A, as bracketed in the example, omitting D on the
second occasion. The third layer contains the same hexachord, in permuted
order and with C
omitted. By contrast, the second layer uses mainly members of

the complementary hexachord B, with the addition of one D (at *) and a single
Ex. 8b Maderna, Quartetto, beginning of second movement (omitted pcs shown in
square brackets)
legno batt.
3
3
pizz.
3
3
legno
al tall.
3
3 3
T
4
P
C
pizz.
5
5
5
3
3
C
NV
al tall.
NV
C
al tall.
NV
C
al tall.
met arco
NV
= 112 circa
[G, B ] [D, F] [C , E, G , E , A , B ]
[D, F] [G, A, C ] [G] [E ] [C ]
C
(at **). As will become clear, the latter two pitch classes are migrants from the
rst and third layers (D is missing once from the rst layer and C
once from the

third).
32
A partial rereading of the same pitch-class material occurs in the excerpt
shown in Ex. 11a (fromthe third section of the work).The analysis of Ex. 11b illu-
strates how the pitch-class succession of the rst layer is slightly rearranged
(compared to Ex. 10), with A omitted on the second occasion and an additional
fragment CB
added at the end. This layer is realised in Ex. 11a mainly with
durations of a crotchet or ve semiquavers, often subdivided into repeated notes
or tremoli, or shortened by rests (in bars 127128), similar to the example est-
ablished in Madernas Quartet.The second layer in Ex. 11b remains incomplete.
The segmentation into the distinct pitch-class layers shown in Exs. 10 and 11b is
Ex. 9 Maderna, Quartetto, excerpt from the short-score draft (Paul Sacher Founda-
tion, Luciano Berio Collection)
De
5 5 3 3
3 3 3
3
Dd
5
5
5 5 3
3
Db
Dd
e
f
f
g
e
d
d
e
e b
Ex. 10 Pitch-class material of the three distinct rhythmic layers at the opening of
Berios Quartetto
5 5 5
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
a
bars: 1 2 3 4 5 6
[D]
**
[C ]
(1)
(2)
(3)
*
hexachord A
hexachord B
(+D, C )
hexachord A
3
5
suggested by Berios rhythmic structure, which in turn is most likely modelled on
the rhythmic layering found in Madernas Quartet. But Berio does not always
realise the different pitch-class layers as rhythmically distinct units. Ex. 12a
reproduces the full score of the beginning of the third section (bars 9299).
Ex. 12b presents a distributional analysis of the pitch-class material used in this
excerpt and illustrates how Berio again combines the two chromatic hexachords
A and B.
33
(Members of hexachord A are stemmed upwards, those of hexachord
B downwards.) The pitch-class succession of the entire excerpt is shown in three
large segments (bars 9294, 9597 and 9799), aligned in the example to illustrate
how each segment starts with the same pitch-class orderings. Bars 9293 corre-
spond to bars 9596 and bar 97; other occasional correspondences occur later as
Ex. 11a Berio, Quartetto, bars 120128
3
arco
pizz.
legno s. arco
via sord.
124
3
3
pizz.
3 3 pont .
pizz.
3 3
sord.
arco
120
= 96
Ex. 11b Pitch-class material of the two layers in bars 120128
1
2
a a
[A]
hexachord A
from hexachord B
Ex. 12a Berio, Quartetto, bars 9299
3
3
legno b.
3
arco
3
via sord. legno b.
3
arco
98
via sord.
pizz.
arco
3
5
5
sord.
3
sord.
3
arco
5
3
95
5
5
legno b. arco
5
arco
5
3
arco pizz.
pizz.
arco
(sord.)
legno b.
92
= 72 circa
5
sord.
legno b.
pizz.
arco
via sord.
well. The pitch classes are grouped by beams to show the distinct hexachordal
statements, some of themfragmented. Fragments occur mostly at the end of each
segment, as indicated; they are effectively interrupted by what follows.
34
The
lower-case letters identify specic orderings of hexachord A (ordering a is shown
in Exs. 10 and 11b).
The foregoing examples illustrate with the help of information from Santis
article and through comparison with Madernas Quartet the ways in which
Berios Quartetto is built from rereadings of a basic pitch-class material generated
from permutations of pitch-series. Santi tells us, as noted earlier, that the work
consists of six large sections (structures), each subdivided into six subsections
(sequences). Each of the six large sections with the exception of the fourth
starts with durations taken predominantly from the six basic note values, fol-
lowed by subsections which introduce increasingly longer durations that are
multiples of these basic values.
35
Exs. 7a and 12a reproduce the beginnings of
large sections (sections 1 and 3 respectively) using mostly the six basic durations,
whereas Ex. 11a reproduces a third subsection (of section 3) which introduces
quintuples of semiquavers and of triplet semiquavers (subdivided in bar 121)
alongside shorter values.
36
According to Santi, Berio groups rhythmic values into cells of various pat-
terns. They range from single attacks and groups of two or more successive
attacks to patterns containing rests. Ex. 13 shows the most prevalent cells as
listed by Santi.
37
Smaller cells are frequently embedded within larger ones, such
as the two demisemiquavers at the beginning of (a) embedded in the second cell
Ex. 12b Analysis of pitch-class materials
a
97 contd
[G]
b
98
[D , F ]
d
[F]
99
e
fragm.
[C]
95
[G]
b
96
fragm.
of c
97
92 bars: 93 94
b c a
fragm.
fragm.
of (b), and the two dotted semiquavers at the end of (a) embedded in the rst cell
of (b). Some of these patterns occur in the score excerpts we have seen. The
analysis of Ex. 14a shows how the opening of the work is built from single attacks
and cells of double attacks. Here, most rhythmic cells are assigned to pitch
classes from the same hexachordal layer (an exception is the D in the rst layer,
marked with an asterisk). In Ex. 12a, on the other hand, the rhythmic cells cut
across the hexachordal layers. Most cells consist of two successive attacks. Single
attacks and patterns of 1 + rest + 2, 1 + rest + 1 and three unequally spaced
Ex. 13 Rhythmic cells mentioned by Santi (1960 [1958], pp. 1001)
3 3 3 3
3 5
; ; ;
etc.
; ; ;
etc.
(a) two attacks in a row
(b) cells of 3 + rest + 1
(c) cell of 4 + rest + 1
Ex. 14a Analysis of rhythmic cells assigned in bars 16 (compare with Ex. 10)
3 3
3
3
3
5
3
5
3
3
5
(1)
(2)
(3)
3
5
1 bar: 2 3 4 5 6
*
Hexachord A
Hexachord A
Hexachord B
Ex. 14b Analysis of rhythmic cells assigned in bars 9294
bar:
5 5 3 3
5
5
92 93 94
Hexachord A
Hexachord B
attacks also occur (Ex. 14b).
38
Not all pitches assigned to these attacks are
equally prominent in the texture, however, since Berio mixes together arco
(sordino), col legno battuto and pizzicato timbres.
Berios work with rhythmic cells parallels similar practices found in the music
of other Darmstadt composers at the time. In particular, Pierre Boulez under
the inuence of Olivier Messiaens rhythmic techniques and his own (and
presumably Messiaens) analysis of The Rite of Spring designed various proce-
dures to synthesise a handful of basic rhythmic cells into larger patterns, as found
in works such as Polyphonie X (19501, withdrawn) and Le marteau sans matre
(19535, rev. 1957).
39
Madernas and Luigi Nonos early serial works often
employed rhythmic cells as well, many of them abstracted from popular music
and political songs.
40
In the fourth section of the Quartetto, Berio combines rhythmic cells with
another technique which at the time was frequently associated with serialism:
canon. The opening of this section is reproduced in Ex. 15a, with the rst three
canonic entries signalled by arrows (bars 161, 168 and 175). The successive
events in each canonic voice, including rests, are numbered. The order numbers
for statement 2 are shown in square brackets, those for statement 3 in italics.
Ex. 15b analyses the canonic theme, reduced here to its succession of pitch
classes and rests (the latter indicated generically by crotchet rests).
41
As the
beamed groups illustrate, the pitch-class material again arises from a combina-
tion of the two complementary hexachords A and B, this time combined to form
a single canonic voice. The rst ordering of hexachord A corresponds to permu-
tation a (see again Ex. 10, bars 12, with D omitted, and Ex. 12b, bars 94 at a
and 9798 at a). The other orderings of the hexachords in Ex. 15b introduce
new permutations.
Berios canon is a proportion canon: the rst entry of the theme moves in
dotted crotchets, followed by the second entry in minims and the third again in
dotted crotchets.
42
Irregularities, such as shortened or lengthened events, attest
to the exibility with which Berio handles his materials.
43
This canon presents a
contrapuntal technique that is not used anywhere else in the Quartetto, but that
ties in nicely with Berios general approach to serialism: like the other sections of
the Quartetto, the canon of section 4 consists of different readings of the same
pitch-class material, in this case a xed succession of 32 events, read at different
speeds in contrapuntal imitation. In each reading Berio freely omits and adds
pitch classes, freely alters rhythms and freely rearranges register, articulation and
(probably) dynamics. In addition, the canonic theme itself is a rereading of
pitch-class combinations used elsewhere in the work, constructed from permu-
tations of the two chromatic hexachords A and B. Many of the gestures in the
canon use rhythmic cells found throughout the other sections of the work in
augmentation.
44
This investigation into the serial materials of the Quartetto per archi necessarily
remains speculative. Although the excerpts discussed here conrmpermutations
of pitch-series by reorderings of the two chromatic hexachords, in the end it is
Ex. 15a Berio, Quartetto, beginning of fourth section, bars 161178, with canonic
voices marked
no. 3
23
1
24
2 3
segue
4
5
[13]
sord. ord.
19 20
[10] 24 25
[8] [9] 27 28
173
21 22 [11]
[12]
balz. 26
sord. ord.
[no. 2]
VM
[1]
VO
[2] [3]
[4]
[5] [6] [7]
167
11
MV
12
VO
13
14 15 16 17 18
no. 1
1 2 10
tast.
3
4
SV pont .
5
sord. via sord.
6 7 8 9
161
sord.
via sord.
6
sord. VM
impossible to be sure that Berio in fact developed the permutations from these
exact hexachords, as strong as the analytical evidence may be. In addition, the
principle of permutation remains unclear. In light of the inuence of Madernas
serial practices at the time, one might wonder whether Berios permutations of
pitch-series may have followed a strict principle comparable to Madernas use of
magic and other squares in order to generate serial permutations.
45
Since no
documentation of the compositional process survives, and since, as noted above,
Santi states that Berio move[d] with unrestricted freedom in realising his serial
materials (he may leave out notes and durations or add some), the basic serial
scheme remains hidden in the nal version.
IV. Allelujah I
As the following examination of the draft score for Allelujah I shows,
46
Berio
developed the basic materials for the work from strict serial procedures. As in the
Quartetto, these materials were then subjected to multiple readings. Berio
describes the process in his early article Aspetti di artigianato formale, which
appeared in the rst issue of his journal Incontri musicali in 1956. He explains
that Allelujah I (then still titled Allelujah) is based on a continually recurring
material, rst presented in the opening 21 bars, which Berio calls the matrix for
the entire piece (Berio 1956, pp. 567). More specically, he states:
In Allelujah, the initial structure (rst group) was conceived from the outset as a
single and, in certain aspects, intuitive whole where the vertical pitch relationships
were not the consequence of a horizontal pitch succession (or vice versa), where
the distribution and disposition of the instruments was [sic] not a direct conse-
quence of [predetermined] registral zones, and where the succession of durations
was not analysable as a series of note values ... [b]ut where, on the contrary, all
sonorous aspects were chosen and given unequivocally because they had to be
chosen and given thus, and not otherwise; and where, nally, the sonorities of this
rst formal object [the rst 21 bars] could successively provide materials to be
broken down [elements of analysis] and for the formal structure, whenever taken
deliberately in their concrete sense.
47
Ex. 15b Theme of the canon in bars 161214
1
a [D]
4 2 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
(or D /E)
Ex. 16a reproduces the opening of the work. Each time the material estab-
lished in the rst 21 bars reappears Ex. 16b and c show the beginning of the
second and third sections the pitch-class structure is preserved, while the
rhythms are varied to a limited degree, and register, orchestration and mode of
attack are changed more drastically.
48
For instance, most pitch classes in bar 1 of
Ex. 16a are reassigned new registers and completely different timbres in bars
2223 (Ex. 16b) and 6162 (Ex. 16c).
49
In addition, Berio alters the temporal
alignment. The two simultaneities from bar 1 (CG and C
D in Ex. 16a) are

pulled apart in bars 2223 (Ex. 16b) and 6162 (Ex. 16c).Whereas all attacks in
Ex. 16a fall on a quaver beat or semiquaver offbeat, Ex. 16b and c introduce
new triplet and quintuplet subdivisions of the beat, obliterating the metric pulse
audible in Ex. 16a.
Allelujah I is built from different readings of the rst 21 bars and from different
combinations of such readings, such as the superimposition of one version and
Ex. 16a Allelujah I, bars 14
8va
8va
1
= 132 ca.
Fl. 1
Picc.
Picc.
Picc.
Ob. 1
Cl. 1
Harp 1
Harp 2
Vibr.
Vn VI
III
I
[sic]
the retrograde of another. Berios strategy of generating new textures by com-
pletely recasting the attributes of his chosen material arose, in the composers
own words, fromthe conviction, that to render unrecognisable, or better, to vary
continuously the acoustic characteristics of the same sonorous material means
equally (in relation to a formal design) to produce a new sonorous material.
50
But
how did he construct the basic material of the rst 21 bars in the rst place?
Berios draft housed at the Paul Sacher Foundation presents the pitch-class
and rhythmic structure in short score (31 pages), to be worked out further in the
nal version. The draft contains only a few analytical annotations, including the
listings of two series in letter notation, one twelve-note (on p. 12) and one
eleven-note repeating one pitch class (on p. 27). No other series are identied,
however. Berios discussion of the work in Aspetti di artigianato formale does
not clarify to what extent, or even whether, he used pitch-class series. Pointing
out how various readings and recombinations of such readings of the rst 21 bars
enabled him to create widely different textures, Berio writes:
Ex. 16b Allelujah I, bars 2226
pizz.
3 3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
22
Fl. 1
Fl. 3
Cl. 1
Vlc.
Alto sax.
E cl.
Bsn 1
Cb.
Harp 1 III
II
I
sord.
3
The interest I have put into cancelling the signs of the continuous presence of the
material of the rst group of pitches [that is, the rst 21 bars] was not an end in
itself. Nothing, indeed, could have prevented me from reconstituting the groups
[that is, the different sections of the work] on the basis of a twelve-tone series,
permuting and transposing its elements. What interested me was to go along with
Ex. 16c Allelujah I, bars 6165
(pizz.)
via sord.
3 5
arco
3 3
pizz.
3
5
+
+
sord. scura
arco
3
3 3
3
3 3
3 3 3 3 3
3
3
61
E cl.
Alto sax.
Ten. sax.
Bsn
Cbsn
Cb.
1
2
2
3
Tpts
Hns
Cymbals
Tamb. mil.
Vns
Vlas
VI
IV
II
the formal suggestions derived from the destruction of that initial material and,
inversely, to discover which material would have satised those suggestions,
overcoming, that is, the concept of interval and pitch series.
51
In order to understand what is meant here, we need to examine Berios
commentary alongside his draft score. Transcribed at the top of Ex. 17 are the
rst 8 bars of the draft (at I).
52
Below this, at II, appears a transcription of the
corresponding bars 2235 of the second section, aligned here with I so as to show
the shared pitch-class material. The bottom of the example, at III, presents a
transcription of the corresponding bars 5465 from the third section, again
aligned in order to show how this section rereads the same pitch-class materials.
It soon becomes evident that section I opens with the successive entries of ve
different twelve-note series, as labelled in bars 15.
53
In section II these ve series
are realigned temporally. Series 4 enters earlier. Series 2 starts slightly sooner and
unfolds somewhat faster than in bars 15. In section III, the ve series are slightly
shifted once again.
54
Of these ve series, the second is the one later listed in the draft in letter
notation.
55
Although none of the others are identied by Berio, their identities
become evident once we compare the rhythmic proles of I with those of II and
III. Series 1, 3 and 5 appear in II with the same note values and rests as in I.
Series 2 and 4 retain the same note values but shorten all rests by one-third.
Series 2 and 5 occur in III with the same durations as in I. Series 1 and 4 keep
the same note values (quavers) but shorten the rests by one-third, while series 3
expands the note values to quintuplet dotted quavers and shortens all rests by
one-fth (with some exceptions). The layering of different series with distinct
rhythmic proles resembles what we have already seen in Madernas and Berios
String Quartets. Once we recognise this general principle in the draft for Allelujah
I, it is possible to determine via a distributional analysis which takes into
account Berios rhythmic transformations that the entire rst section of 21 bars
is in fact constructed serially. The result of this analysis is shown in Ex. 18ac.
Ex. 18a demonstrates that section I (bars 121) is constructed from twelve
different twelve-tone series, none of which relates to any of the others via
canonical twelve-tone operations. Each pitch class is assigned a duration of one
quaver. All rests are multiples of quavers or semiquavers.
56
Ex. 18b shows that
section II (bars 2253) is built from exactly the same twelve pitch-class series.
The odd-numbered series retain the same rhythmic prole as in Ex. 18a; all
even-numbered series preserve the durations assigned to the pitch classes (always
a quaver) but shorten the rests by one-third, including the rests which precede
the rst pitch class to enter.
57
As a result, the temporal relationships among the
odd-numbered series remain the same, while those involving the even-numbered
series change. The latter unfold more quickly in section II than in section I.
As Ex. 18c demonstrates, section III (bars 5480 of the draft, bars 6187 of
the nal version) is again built from the same twelve twelve-note series, two-
thirds of which is subjected to rhythmic diminution of the kind seen in Ex. 18b.
Ex. 17 Allelujah I, beginnings of sections IIII as they appear in Berios draft,
superimposed (Paul Sacher Foundation, Collection Luciano Berio)
3 3
3 3
3 3 5
3 3
3
[series 4]
3
8
[ ]
3 3
II
[series 2]
3
3 3 3 3
3
3
[series 6]
3 3
3
22
[series 1]
23 24
25 26 27 28
[series 3]
[series 3]
I
[series 4]
[series 1]
8
8
[series 2]
2
8
8
3 4
[ ]
5 5
5 5
[series 4]
[series 6]
[series 3]
[series 2]
[series 1]
3
3
3
3 3 3
3
3
3 3
3
54
55 56 57
58
59 60
8
8
[ ]
III
8
Ex. 17 Continued
3 3 3 3 3 3 3
3 3
5
3 3
3
5
3
5 5
5
5
3
5
3
5 5
[series 5]
3 3
3 3
[series 7]
3
3 3 3 3
3 3 3 3
3
[series 8]
3 3
29 30 31 32 33 34 35
[series 5]
[ ]
8 8
[series 7]
8
5
[series 6]
6 7 8
8
61 62 63 64
65
[series 5]
[sic]
[series 7]
[ ]
[ ]
3 3
In series 1, 4, 7 and 10 of Ex. 18c Berio retains the note values (always a quaver)
and shortens the rests by one-third compared to Ex. 18a. The rests in series 3, 6,
9 and 12 of Ex. 18c are shortened by one-fth.The durations of the pitch classes
increase in series 3 and 6 to a quintuplet dotted quaver, while in series 9 and 12
the durations are changed irregularly. Since series 11 remains mostly unaltered
in Ex. 18ac and enters in approximately the same place in all three sections
(after a rest of 109 or 108 semiquavers respectively), and since series 12 always
ends before series 11, all three sections have approximately the same length in
the draft (section II is one semiquaver shorter and section III two semiquavers
shorter than section I).
58
As Ex. 18ac prove, the temporal realignment of the pitch-class material in
sections IIII follows strict transformational procedures; sections II and III are not
simply free rhythmic rereadings of the same pitch-class material. Berios
comment, cited above, that in section I the vertical pitch relationships were not
Ex. 18a Allelujah I, the twelve twelve-note series and their assigned durations in
section I
12
(124 )
11
(109 )
10
(101 )
9
(89 )
8
(69 )
7
(59 )
6
(37 )
5
(32 )
4
(20 )
3
(9 )
2
1
the consequence of a horizontal pitch succession (or vice versa) is at rst glance
cryptic, because he did work with specic horizontal pitch successions, that is, the
twelve twelve-note series. What he in fact meant is that the horizontal pitch
successions are not locked a priori into a particular vertical alignment (because the
alignment is altered in sections II and III).The analysis in Ex. 18ac also claries
Berios earlier comment that [n]othing, indeed, could have prevented me from
reconstituting the groups on the basis of a twelve-tone series, permuting and
transposing its elements.The composer plainly didnot meanto say that he didnot
employ any twelve-note series at all, a claim that is false as it stands. Rather, he
seems more concerned to emphasise the transformational over the additive
Ex. 18b Allelujah I, the twelve series and their assigned durations in section II
12
(124 )
3 3 3 3 3 3
*
3
*
3
*
3
3
11
(109 )
*
10
(101 )
3 3
*
3
*
3 3 3 3
*
* 3 3
*
3 3 3 3 3 3
3
9
(89 )
8
(69 )
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 * 3 3 3
3
7
(59 )
*
6
(37 )
3 3
*
3 3 3 3
*
3 3 3 3 * 3 3 * 3 3 3
*
3 3 3
3
5
(33 )
*
4
(20 )
3 3 3 3 3 3
*
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
*
3 3 3
3
3
(9 )
2
3 3 3 3 3 3 3
3
1
*
3
*
process of composition: in Allelujah I new textures are generated by transforming
a complete larger block of material consisting of the rst 21 bars, which Berio
conceived as a single whole.
59
Still, that block is put together exclusively, and
perhaps surprisingly given the attendant claimof overcoming, that is, the concept
of interval and pitch series from a collection of a dozen twelve-note rows.
60
In a letter to Luigi Nono, probably written in March 1957, Berio argued
regarding Madernas String Quartet and his own music that in the latest
developments of serial music ... the series, as such, is dead and buried: it only
serves to prepare a material over which the music is invented.
61
In Allelujah I,
sections II and III and the rest of the work are invented by rereading the rst
Ex. 18c Allelujah I, the twelve series and their assigned durations in section III
durations
irreg.
5
12
(124 )
5
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
11
(108 )
* *
10
(101 )
3 3
*
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
*
3 3 3 3 3 3
3
9
(89 )
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 * 5
*
5
durations
irreg.
5
8
(69 )
7
(59 )
3
*
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
6
(37 )
5 5 5 5 5 5 5
*
5 5 5 5 5 5
*
5
*
5
* * *
5 5
*
5 5 5 5 5
5
5
(32 )
4
(20 )
3 3 3 3 3 3
*
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
*
*
3
3
(9 )
5
5
*
5 5 5 5 5
*
5 5 5 5 5 * * 5 5 5 5 5 5
*
5 5 5 5
*
5 5 5 5 *
5
5
2
1
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
3
5
3
3
*
5
21 bars, each time completely recasting the registers, dynamics, modes of attack
and orchestration.
62
Key to this process was the fact that Berio chose material for
the rst 21 bars of his draft which he considered to be broadly exible in terms
of possible compositional realisations. Thus it is possible to detect the seeds of
what would become a central element in the composers music: namely, the
notion of openness. In the article of 1956, Berio speaks of the multi-polarity of
the music of Allelujah I, with respect to the act of composition as well as the
process of listening. For Berio, the basic material of Allelujah I (the rst 21 bars)
was multi-polar in that it availed itself of a wide range of compositional reali-
sations. Furthermore, Berio scored this material and its transformations in such
a manner that the resulting textures, and with them the work itself, remained
ambiguous in the sense that each listener would, and was expected to, hear them
in his or her own way:
In short, I wished to grant each aspect of the composition the possibility of being
equivocal and to provide a multiplicity of resolutions as regards not only the
sonorous and structural aspects of the work, but also those strictly practical and
functional that concern the habits of listening; in order also to give the listener an
active part in the realisation of the work.
63
For Berio, the physical location of the sounds in the concert hall plays a central
role in the listening process.The six groups (zones) of the orchestra are seated on
stage as far apart from each other as possible.
64
Each section of the work rereads
the same pitch (or pitch-class) material (varying the rhythms, registers, and so on)
but distributes it differently among the orchestral groups.
65
Hence, in each section
the pitch materials move differently in space. In addition, their paths sound
somewhat different for each listener depending on where he or she is seated. The
work is thus multi-polar not only in the sense that each listener will likely perceive
the complex textures in a different way (focusing on different aspects of them), but
also in that the sounds move differently in space depending on where the listener
is positioned.
66
Ultimately, however, Berio was dissatised with the result of the
distribution of the six orchestral groups on stage and subsequently reworked the
composition into an expanded version for ve orchestral groups scattered through
the audience. In his program note for this new version, Allelujah II, Berio
addressed the function of space and its role in the listening process:
In 1955, when I composed Allelujah for six orchestral groups (dedicated to
Karlheinz Stockhausen and rst performed in that same year [sic] in Cologne with
Michael Gielen conducting), I was interested in an extremely elaborate and
concentrated development of a simple initial statement. But the distribution of six
orchestral groups on a conventional concert stage was not acoustically suitable.
This is why, in 19571958, I wrote Allelujah II for ve orchestral groups, where I
further developed that same initial statement, in search of a deeper homogeneity
and coherence between the acoustic and spatial dimension on [the] one side and
the musical dimension on the other ... . The ve orchestral groups of Allelujah II
are no longer crowded together on the stage: they are distributed in the hall so as
to surround the audience. The purpose, given the complexity of the score, is to
help the audience approach the work from different acoustic standpoints and to
become more involved with the musical development, in a continuous alleluiatic
expansion.
67
In his next instrumental work Berio extended the notion of openness beyond
the compositional means and the listening process to include the act of perfor-
mance itself. In the ute Sequenza (1958) the realisation of the rhythms is exible
in that Berios notation no longer xes the exact note values. The performer
makes the specic rhythmic choices according to the distribution of the pitches
within the time units marked in the score.
68
Although it uses some serial ele-
ments, Sequenza I is no longer serial in any strict sense.
69
Berio recognised early the dangers of using serialismin dogmatic and inexible
ways. The examples from the mid-1950s examined here show clearly the ways in
which Berio evaded the formalistic and escapist attitude of twelve-tone compo-
sition in his own serial music. Looking back in 1968, he wrote: To me ... it is
essential that the composer be able to prove the relative nature of musical
processes: their structural models, based on past experience, generate not only
rules but also the transformation and the destruction of those very rules (Berio
1968, p. 169). Although Berio had abandoned serialismby 1958, thinking in terms
of musical parameters and serial ordering processes would remain characteristic
of his musical aesthetic.Traces of serial thinking can be found throughout his later
oeuvre, and in this sense serialism shaped the rest of his compositional career.
NOTES
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the Society
for Music Theory. I wish to thankTalia Pecker Berio for sharing her extensive knowledge
of Berios music and writings with me, and for her comments and suggestions on the draft
of this article. All primary sources are quoted and reproduced here with her permission.
Research visits to the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel were supported by grants from
McGill University and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
My thanks go to the scholars and staff at the Paul Sacher Foundation for their assistance.
My transcriptions of Berios and Madernas sketches are reprinted by permission fromthe
Foundation. Berios note for Nones is translated in Ex. 2 with permission from Marion
Boyars Publishers, London. Excerpts from Berios Nones, Allelujah I and the Quartetto per
archi and from Madernas Quartetto per archi in due tempi are reproduced by permission of
Sugarmusic S.p.A. Edizioni Suvini Zerboni, Milan. Ex. 13 is cited by permission of
Universal Edition A.G., Vienna. An excerpt from a letter from Berio to Luigi Nono is
quoted by permission of the Luigi Nono Archive,Venice. Its president, Nuria Schoenberg
Nono, and artistic director, ClaudiaVincis, gave much helpful advice during my time there.
I am grateful to Federico Andreoni for his help with my translations.
1. The serialism of Due pezzi is analysed in Borio (1997), pp. 3836. Seither (2000), p.
12, discusses the general features of Study.The work is analysed in Hermann (2009).
Cinque variazioni and Chamber Music are briey discussed in Allen (1974), pp. 234.
Excerpts fromthese two works are also analysed in Osmond-Smith (1991), pp. 610.
Santi (1960 [1958]), p. 101, addresses selected features of Variazioni. The most
frequently discussed work from this period is the integrally serial Nones; see Santi
1960 [1958]), pp. 99100; Smith Brindle (1958), pp. 96101; Allen (1974), pp.
2430; Stoianova (1985), pp. 37982; Hicks (1989); Osmond-Smith (1991), pp.
1619; and Carone (20078), pp. 2846. Score excerpts from Allelujah I are
discussed in Berio (1956), Osmond-Smith (1991), pp. 1921, and Fein (2001), pp.
25163. No extensive analyses of Allelujah I, Quartetto or Serenata I have been
published to this date. The earliest and most specic analytical information on the
Quartetto is found in Santi (1960 [1958], pp. 1001). Excerpts fromthis work are also
discussed in Allen (1974), pp. 303; Fein (2001), pp. 2638; and Hermann (2009).
Allelujah II is examined in detail in Carone (20078).
2. Quartetto, Serenata I, Allelujah I and Allelujah II are mentioned (but not discussed in
any detail) in Berio (1985 [1981]), pp. 63, 65, 90 and 154. Allelujah I is discussed
in Berio (1956). Additional brief comments by Berio on Serenata I are reproduced
in Stoianova (1985), pp. 3835.
3. Berio must be quoting Milton Babbitt here, who in his review of Ren Leibowitzs
Schoenberg et son cole and Quest-ce que la musique de douze sons? from1950 discussed
the possibility of applying twelve-note principles inboth rhythmic andpitch domains.
Babbitts exact wording is: Thus there arises the reality of a rhythmic structuraliza-
tion totally identical with the tonal structuralization, the two elements integrating
with each other without harmto the individuality of either one (Babbitt 1950, p. 14).
Babbitt clearly uses the termtonal here to meanpitch in the context of twelve-tone
composition.The paragraph from Babbitts review which contains this sentence had
been cited three years prior to Berios article in Peter Westergaards critique of
Babbitts procedures in Some Problems Raised by the Rhythmic Procedures in
Milton Babbitts Composition for Twelve Instruments. Westergaards article
appeared in what was at the time the journal of the American serialists, Perspectives of
New Music (Westergaard 1965).
4. Berio here paraphrases Hegels to give out its [knowledges] Absolute as the night
in which, as we say, all cows are black that is the very navet of emptiness of
knowledge (Hegel 1964, p. 79). In his rst Norton lecture, given in 1993, Berio
likewise emphasises solidarity among musical elements (Berio 2006, p. 11).
5. As an example of what constitutes a meaningful whole, Berio recalls: As I pointed
out to Pousseur myself, the processes that generate melody cannot be manufactured
from one day to the next melodies are born spontaneously within collective groups
or in a stylistic frame when all the parameters of music are at peace, and start
singing together (Berio 1985 [1981], p. 79).
6. See Santi (1960 [1958]), p. 100.
7. See Berio (1985 [1981]), pp. 51 and 62. Whether Berio rst attended Darmstadt in
1953 or 1954 remains uncertain, however. See Carone (20078), p. 29.
8. Messiaen was probably not aware of Milton Babbitts work at the time. Babbitts
Three Compositions for Piano (1947), with their individual treatment of the param-
eters pitch, rhythm, dynamics and articulation pre-date Mode de valeurs et dintensits
by two years. See also Mead (1994), pp. 235.
9. Stockhausen wrote Kreuzspiel under the inuence of Goeyvaertss Sonata for Two
Pianos after the two composers rst met in Darmstadt in the summer of 1951
(Goeyvaerts 1994, p. 45). Also predating Kreuzspiel and Structure Ia is Michel
Fanos Sonata for Two Pianos (1951), which serialises the parameters of pitch
class, rhythm and dynamics, but not the modes of attack. See Toop (1974),
pp. 1649.
10. See for example Pousseur (1959), especially pp. 6788.
11. See Stockhausen (1963). The article was written in 1955.
12. See Berio (1985 [1981]), p. 62.
13. Ex. 2 is a translation of the second of the two pages of this note. On the rst
page Berio explains the intervallic properties and symmetries of the thirteen-
note series and mentions the use of harmonies ranging from the interval of an
octave to the total chromatic. A facsimile of this note appears in Berio (1985),
plate 4 (n.p.). All translations of sources in Italian, unless indicated otherwise, are
mine.
14. This is mentioned in Hicks (1989), p. 255.
15. Added information which does not appear in Berios original note is shown in
square brackets in the example. I have identied multiple choices with [a], [b] and
[c] for later reference.
16. Goeyvaerts assigns the values 0, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 2 and 1 to the twelve pitch
classes from E
through to D, values 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2 and 3 to seven durations (ranging

from a quaver to nine quavers), values 14 to four dynamics (pp, p, mf and f) and
values 1 and 2 to four different modes of attack. See Sabbe (1981), pp. 910, and
(1994), p. 55.
17. The title refers to the ninth canonical hour. Berio had originally planned Nones as
a great secular oratorio with solos, chorus and orchestra, but the length and
complexity of Audens poem stalled the ambitious project. The nal version of
Nones assembles ve orchestral episodes from the original uncompleted project
(Berio 1985 [1981], pp. 623).
18. In addition, unlike Goeyvaerts, Berio allows his sums to exceed the synthetic
number, adding even more exibility to his choices.
19. The sufxes a and b denote the specic choices made where Berio would have
had multiple options.
20. See also Hicks (1989), p. 267.
21. Similar tendencies in the numerical distribution are apparent in the remaining
three serial layers which open the work, although the sums do not form
palindromic patterns and, mistakenly, occasionally even fall below 9. As in
layer P
11
, the values for the durations and dynamics in the remaining three
layers largely decrease from either end towards the centre (again, there are
exceptions):
modes of attack:
dynamics:
durations :
pcs: 1 2 3 4 5 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 6
3b 4a 4a 3b 3b 1 3a 3a 2b 2b 4b 3b 4b
4 1a 2a 1a 1b 1a 1b 1a 1a 2a 1b 2a 2a
1b 2a 2a 1a 2a 2a 1a 1a 1a 1a 1a 2a 2a
sums: 9 9 11 9 11 12 9 9 10 11 9 9 9
modes of attack:
dynamics:
durations :
pcs: 1 2 3 4 5 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 6
4a 3b 3a 2b 2b 4b 1 1 3a 2b 2b 4a 4a
1a 3 2a 1a 1b 1a 1a 1a 1b 1a 2a 1a 2a
3c 1b 1a 2a 2a 1a 2a 1a 1a 1b 1b 2a 3c
sums: 9 9 9 9 10 11 10 8(!) 12 9 8(!) 9 10
modes of attack:
dynamics:
durations :
pcs: 1 2 3 4 5 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 6
4a 4a 4a 1 3b 2b 2b 3a 2b 1 3a 3b 4b
2a 2a 2a 3 5 1a 1a 1b 2a 1a 1a 2a 3
2a 2a 2a 1a 1b 2a 1b 1a 1a 2a 1a 2a 2b
sums : 9 10 11 9 14 11 10 8(!) 11 11 8(!) 9 10
P layer
5
P layer
7
P layer
10
Berio does not always add a quaver rest to an event whose sum exceeds 9, as
otherwise required by the rule. Another statement of P
10
starts in bar 5 (violin A).
Bruno Maderna analysed the rst four serial layers (without calculating the numeri-
cal values) in his lecture notes for Darmstadt in 1954. The corresponding page is
reproduced in Berio (1985), plate 5 (n.p.).
22. Not all of the leaps are equally prominent in the full texture, however, depending on
their surroundings. The forward drive of such gestures is strongest where a cre-
scendo and/or glissando is involved, such as in the electric guitar in bars 89, the
saxophone in bars 910 and the timpani in bars 910 and 1112.
23. As before, sum 8 does not satisfy Berios rule and must be an exception.
24. The exception is 3, which occurs only twice, realised with the larger of the two
possible values.
25. Again, the sums smaller than 9 in Ex. 6b and c are inconsistent with Berios
rule. Berio also follows only partially the stipulation that any event whose
sum is larger than 9 be followed by a quaver rest. David Osmond-Smith (1991),
pp. 1718, with reference to Bergian practice, analyses the lower strings and
timpani in bars 4042 as the rst half of a derived series which reads P
11
from
both ends to the centre (BFD[D]B
, and so on). This reading corresponds

closely to the analysis shown in Ex. 5, as I
5
and P
11
are literal retrogrades of
each other. Osmond-Smith interprets what I have analysed as the superpo-
sition of the beginning of I
5
and P
5
in bars 4348 as a partial statement of P
8
(P
9
in his terminology), reading the pcs in the order 71134105968.
An analysis of the sums based on Osmond-Smiths reading also leads to
values occasionally smaller than 9. I have no explanation for the timpani in
bar 45.
26. Berio uses the term form here in the sense of formal scheme or form type, that is,
in the sense of a preestablished, conventionalised framework. The preference for
thinking in terms of process (or formation) rather than form is likely inuenced
by Edgard Varse, among others; see Varse (1971), pp. 2831. For an excellent
analysis of Berios concepts of form and formation in the broader intellectual
context of the 1950s and beyond, see Carone (20078).
27. The authors who wrote for Die Reihe were either the composers themselves or
authors close to them (Grant 2001, p. 223). In addition to the Quartetto, Santis
article also discusses Nones and Variazioni and briey mentions Cinque variazioni,
Chamber Music and Mimusique No. 2. The two musical diagrams in Santis article
pertaining to Nones and his description of the properties of the thirteen-note series
for the work are virtually identical with what appears on the rst page of Berios
own analytical note (the second page of which was seen in Ex. 2), pointing to the
composer as the source of information.
28. The exception is the ordering of hexachord A in bars 25 (Ex. 7a) and bars 2246
(Ex. 7c).
29. I was very close to him [Maderna] for a number of years: from 1953 to 1959 it was
almost as if we were living together (Berio 1985 [1981], p. 52).
30. It is now held in the Collection Luciano Berio at the Paul Sacher Foundation.
31. Space does not permit me to go into the complex serial structure of Madernas
Quartet, analysed in Fein (2001), pp. 13383, Borio (2003), pp. 10711 and
Neidhfer (2009). Maderna subjects the twelve-note series of the work to an
elaborate and strict permutational procedure which regroups the pitch classes into
successions of single pitch classes, dyads, trichords and rests. Ex. 9 shows the
different permutations of the series labelled by Maderna with lowercase letters.
Each distinct permutation is realised with one of the twelve basic note values used
in the work (ranging from septuplet demisemiquavers to crotchets). Madernas
sketches suggest that aside from the pitch-class structure and rhythms, no other
aspects were serially determined.
32. Allen (1974), pp. 303, demonstrates how the ordered set CB
BC
, canonical
transformations thereof and unordered sets of set class 33 [0, 1, 4] from the
opening of the work recur in later sections. As the present analysis shows, these and
other sets are part of a larger transformational structure characterised by the use of
the two complementary hexachords.
33. The termdistributional analysis was coined by David Lidov (1992), pp. 678. The
method was rst introduced, as paradigmatic analysis, by Nicolas Ruwet (1966)
and later integrated into a semiological model by Jean-Jacques Nattiez (1990).
34. Berios work with chromatic sets such as the two complementary hexachords A and
B may have been inuenced by his study of the music of AntonWebern and by the
discussions of Weberns music which had taken place at Darmstadt, especially after
1953. Particularly inuential at the time was Henri Pousseurs analysis Weberns
Organic Chromaticism, which eventually appeared in the second volume of Die
Reihe in 1955 (Pousseur 1958).
35. As mentioned by Santi (1960 [1958]), p. 100, in the rst section Berio multiplies
the six basic note values by factors of 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 respectively.
36. The six large sections of the work, according to the assignment of rhythmic values
span bars 157, 5891, 92160, 161223, 224249 and 250287. See also Fein
(2001), pp. 2647.
37. See Santi (1960 [1958]), pp. 1001.
38. Other analytical interpretations would be possible too. Each of the rhythmic cells
shown in Ex. 14b uses one or two of the six basic note values. It is likely that Berio
thought of these small cells as forming larger ones. Santi states, for instance, that the
cell shown in Ex. 13c returns in different forms at the beginning of each structure
[i.e. section] (Santi 1960 [1958], p. 100). This longer cell is a compound of two
double attacks followed by a rest and a single attack. The compound could be
shown at the beginning of Ex. 14b, which reduces the opening of the third section,
by grouping together the rst ve attacks, including the rest between the fourth and
fth attack.
39. The technique is explained in Boulez (1991b), pp. 1216. Boulezs analysis of The
Rite of Spring (completed in 1951) appears in Boulez (1991a), pp. 55110. Messi-
aens analysis of the same work was published posthumously in Messiaen (1995),
pp. 93147.
40. For a discussion of Nonos early serial rhythmic techniques and a comparison
with Boulezs practice, see Borio (2003). Madernas use of rhythmic cells is dis-
cussed in Borio (1990), pp. 323, Fearn (1990), p. 14 and Borio (1997), pp.
37581.
41. This canon has been analysed in part previously by Fein (2001), pp. 2667. My
reconstruction of the theme differs from his in a few places, making it possible to
account for more of the pitch material. In particular, events 12, 14 and 2232 of the
theme (shown in Ex. 15b) are not included in Feins reconstruction. Allen (1974),
pp. 312A, identies the rst ve events of the theme (called motive) in bars
161163 and their restatement in bars 168171, 175178 and 194197. He also
shows various recurrences between bars 174 and 216 of the rst four pitch classes
of the motive or twelve-note transformations thereof.
42. A fourth and last thematic statement (not shown in the example) in mostly dotted
crotchets starts in bar 194 and ends in bar 214.
43. As marked (underlined), events 12 and 14 in bars 167170 double the note value
(dotted minim instead of dotted crotchet). Events 6 and 10 of the second statement
of the theme in bars 172 (dotted crotchet rest in the second violin) and 175
(crotchet G in the viola) shorten the regular note value (minim). Event 12 of the
same statement in bars 176178 (C in the rst violin) is extended and subdivided
into repeated quaver attacks.
44. See, for instance, the two-note gestures in the cello and viola, followed by a single
attack in the second violin at the beginning of Ex. 15a.
45. For a discussion of Madernas use of such squares, see for example Rizzardi (2003).
46. The draft is housed in the Collection Luciano Berio at the Paul Sacher Foundation.
The published score of Allelujah I, issued under the title Allelujah by Suvini Zerboni
in 1957, was copied by Juan Hidalgo in December 1956, as indicated on the last
page of the score. The work was probably composed after the Quartetto per archi,
because Santis article does not mention Allelujah and refers to the Quartetto as
Berios most recent work (Santi 1960 [1958], p. 101).
47. In Allelujah, la struttura iniziale (primo gruppo) stata concepita sin dallinizio
come un tutto unico e, per certi aspetti, intuitivo. Cio: ove i rapporti verticali delle
frequenze non fossero la conseguenza di uno svolgimento orizzontale delle stesse (o
viceversa), ove la distribuzione e la disposizione strumentale non fosse direttamente
una conseguenza delle zone di registro e ove la successione delle durate non fosse
analizzabile come serie di durate ... . Ma, invece, ove tutti gli aspetti sonori fossero
inequivocabilmente scelti e dati perch cos dovevano essere scelti e dati, e non
altrimenti; e ove, inne, i dati sonori di questo primo oggetto formale potessero
fornire successivamente gli elementi di analisi e di struttura formale, qualora delib-
eratamente presi nella loro accezione concreta (Berio 1956, p. 64).
48. Berio (1956), p. 57.
49. The opening of Ex. 16a uses only the middle to high register, whereas Ex. 16b and
c immediately include the low (but not yet the lowest) range of the orchestra.
50. Questo principio generale della composizione mi stato suggerito dalla persua-
sione che, anche nella musica strumentale, il rendere irriconoscibile, o meglio, il
variare continuamente le caratteristiche acustiche di uno stesso materiale sonoro
vuole anche dire (in rapporto a un disegno formale) produrre un nuovo materiale
sonoro (Berio 1956, pp. 567; italics in the original).
51. Linteresse che ho posto nellannullare i segni della presenza continua del
materiale del primo gruppo di frequenze non era ne a se stesso. Nulla, infatti,
avrebbe potuto impedirmi di ricostituire i gruppi sulla base di una serie di 12
suoni, permutando e trasportando gli elementi di essa. Quello che mi interessava
era di assecondare i suggerimenti formali derivati dalla distruzione di quel
materiale iniziale e, inversamente, scoprire quale materiale avrebbe soddisfatto
quei suggerimenti, superando cio il concetto di serie di intervalli e di altezze
(Berio 1956, p. 62).
52. My transcription omits Berios circle around the rst three bars, labeled DOPO!
(later), and the indication above bar 1 of SEMPRE DIVISI. The opening must
thus originally have been intended for strings. From bar 9 onwards, Berio reuses
selected materials from bars 13 (and beyond). He highlights certain pitches by
labeling them (fa in bar 1, sol in bar 4, and do
in bar 5). I have omitted these labels

in the transcription. They select pitches which project one of the twelve-note series
(series 2) to be discussed.
53. In the transcription, any information added by the present author, such as the
identications of these series, is shown in square brackets.
54. The ve series and their rhythmic proles were previously identied by Fein. He
states, however, that beyond these ve series the rest of the rst section until bar 21
is not serial (Fein 2001, pp. 2545). My analysis will show that this is not the case.
55. See page 12 of the draft. Berio does not assign a number to this series. The other
(non-twelve-note) series shown in letter notation on p. 27 summarises the pitch
classes prolonged in bars 233247 of the draft.
56. Berio adds additional pitch materials to the structure of the 12 twelve-note series
from bar 9 onwards. The added pitches are notated in red in the draft. Fein (2001,
p. 255), suggests that these were added later, restating pitch-class materials selected
from bars 19. Berios selection appears to have been systematic in the sense that he
chose a group of from three to ve pitch classes out of each of bars 18, adding these
groups, in chronological order, to bars 912.
57. Irregularities are marked with an asterisk (*) in the example. Berio mentions
the rhythmic transformations, in very general terms, in his 1956 article: The
variations in the durational relationships in the second and third group [section]
take place through gradual and proportional interpolation of irrational values,
yet without perceptively inuencing the vertical pitch relationships already
determined in the rst group [section] (Le variazioni nei rapporti di durata
nel secondo e terzo gruppo avvengono per graduale e proporzionata inter-
polazione di valori irrazionali, senza tuttavia inuire sensibilmente sui rap-
porti verticali delle frequenze gi determinati nel primo gruppo [Berio 1956,
p. 57]).
58. The near-equal length of sections IIII is abandoned in the nal version, in which
Berio extends section II by seven measures of 4/8.
59. In his 1956 article Berio emphasises the holistic conception of the rst 21 bars:
Whereas once it seemed logical at the time of contrapuntal purication that
by now has born its fruits in the unity of method and intuition in the composi-
tional process to search for a series of durations, dynamic values and timbres
that could coincide a priori with a pitch series, via systematic procedures often
external to the composer, it is possible today to carry out a simultaneous and
unied choice of the sound properties by grasping the totality of their reciprocal
formal predispositions (Mentre un tempo sembrava logico quel tempo della
puricazione contrappuntistica che ormai ha dato i suoi frutti nellunit di
metodo e di intuizione nel lavoro di composizione cercare che una serie di
durate, di intensit e di qualit timbriche potesse coincidere a priori con una
serie di frequenze, attraverso procedimenti sistematici spesso esterni al com-
positore, oggi possibile operare una scelta simultanea e unicata dei valori
sonori, cogliendo la totalit delle loro reciproche predisposizioni formali [Berio
1956, p. 63]).
60. In the rst Norton lecture (1993), Berio returned to the relationship between
subtractive and additive procedure: Carl Dalhaus pointed out a similar idea
regarding the relationship between material and matter: The brick is the form of
the piece of clay, the house is the form of the bricks, the village is the form of the
house. I would like to bring this quotation closer to my own point of view,
inverting the order of the images to t a subtractive rather than additive perspec-
tive: The village is the form of the house, the house is the form of the brick, the
brick is the form of the piece of clay ... . In other words, the elaboration of the
cell with additive criteria can be temporarily suspended, and the path that leads
to musical sense may move in an opposite direction, calling upon subtractive
criteria to a heterogeneous, even chaotic whole of acoustical data. Like the sculp-
tor who extracts the sculpture, a forza di levare (as Michelangelo said), from the
block of marble. Such criteria may lead to the discovery of a specic gure: the
generating cell (Berio 2006, pp. 1920).
61. It is conceivable that the twelve pitch-class series reconstructed in Ex. 18ac were
generated through a single permutational procedure, as was common in Madernas
and Nonos serial music at the time using Latin and magic squares, for example. In
the absence of any detailed sketches, I have so far not been able to determine
whether Berio in fact used any such permutation strategies. For an introduction to
Madernas and Nonos procedures in what Gianmario Borio and Veniero Rizzardi
have termed the tecnica degli spostamenti (shifting technique), see Rizzardi
(2003), pp. 3154.
62. Penso che se tu devi parlare degli ultimi sviluppi della musica seriale devi
stabilire il fatto che la serie, in quanto tale, morta e sepolta: serve solo a preparare
un materiale su cui viene inventata la musica. The original of this letter from Berio
to Nono is conserved in the Luigi Nono Archive, Venice.
63. Insomma, disederavo dare ad ogni aspetto della composizione una possibilit di
equivoco e una molteplicit di risoluzioni che riguardasse non solo gli aspetti
sonori e strutturali del lavoro ma anche quelli strettamente pratici e funzionali che
riguardano le consuetudini dellascolto; per dare anche allascoltatore una parte
attiva nella realizzazione dellopera (Berio 1956, p. 65). My analysis of the draft
score indicates that Berio used the three readings in sections IIII to construct the
rest of the work, as shown in the list below. In the left column, the bar numbers from
the draft are followed, in parentheses, by those from the nal version. Rereadings of
sections IIII may be re-rhythmicised and may omit pitch classes and add other
materials. In addition, in the nal version Berio may add, omit and conate material
(not indicated here).
121 (121)
/ Readings Bars in draft (final version)
2253 (2253)
5480 (6187)
8094 (87101)
95115 (102112+)
116154
I
II
III
IV: superposes retrograde of first half of II over second half of II
V: superposes I over retrograde of III
VI: bars 116 35 superpose I over its own retrograde; bars 135154
reread III; in addition, a prolonged version of series 2 (with selected
partials from the harmonic series added to its individual pitches) is
superposed in bars 116154
154174 (138159)
154178 (138162)
170188 (154172)
174ff
189
I
III
II
adds V
empty bar in draft (worked out as a transition in bars 173178 of final
version)
V 190209 (179192+)
191212 (180192+) prolonged version of series 2 (without first three pitch classes; they
are contained, as part of V, in bar 190)
213232 (205?208)
227246 (205?222)
I
I; bars 233247 add prolonged series of eleven pitch classes
(G EFB CADE BC D F )
II 248286 (224278)
64. Compatibilmente con lo spazio disponibile le 6 zone in cui divisa lorchestra
devono essere distanziate il pi possibile (preface to the score, Edizioni Suvini
Zerboni 5372).
65. Generally, Berio has the 12 twelve-tone series move back and forth among different
orchestral groups, thus obliterating the original serial counterpoint of his draft
score.
66. The movement of sound in space was explored by many composers at the time,
especially in connection with electronic composition. Stockhausens Gesang der
Jnglinge, whose sounds move in space through ve loudspeakers located through-
out the audience, was premiered on 30 May 1956, at which time Berio was working
on Allelujah I. Berio (1985 [1981]), p. 65, mentions Gesang der Jnglinge as one of
the pieces that affected me most during those years. Stockhausen was also working
on Gruppen, for three orchestras (19557), at the time, and it is he to whom
Allelujah I is dedicated. For a discussion of the role Berio assigns to the listener in
the perception of formal processes see Carone (20078), especially pp. 1012.
67. I am grateful to Talia Pecker Berio for providing me with this programme note.
68. Owing to this feature Umberto Eco cites Sequenza I as an example of an open work
(Eco 1989, pp. 119). In his fourth Norton lecture, Berio presents a critical
assessment of composition with open forms, rejecting those approaches in which
(just as in the case of certain serial practices) composers were led not to assume all
of their perceptive responsibilities (Berio 2006, p. 85).
69. For an analysis of the inuence of twelve-tone technique on Sequenza I and a survey
of the analytical literature on this work, see Priore (2007).
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of Southampton).
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and Quest-ce que la musique de douze sons?, Journal of the American
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Milton Babbitt, ed. Stephen Peles with Stephen Dembski, Andrew Mead and
Joseph N. Straus (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003), pp.
1015.
Berio, Luciano, 1956: Aspetti di artigianato formale, Incontri musicali, 1, pp.
5569.
______, 1968: Meditation on a Twelve-Tone Horse, Christian Science Monitor
(15 July 1968), p. 8, reprinted in Richard Kostelanetz and Joseph Darby
(eds.), Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music: a Continuing Symposium
(NewYork: Schirmer Books, 1996), pp. 16771.
______, 1985 [1981]: Two Interviews with Rossana Dalmonte and Blint Andrs
Varga, trans. David Osmond-Smith (NewYork: Marion Boyars).
______, 2006: Remembering the Future (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures) (Cam-
bridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
Borio, Gianmario, 1990: La tecnica seriale in Studi per il processo di Franz Kafka
di Bruno Maderna, Musica/Realt, 32, pp. 2739.
______, 1997: Linuenza di Dallapiccola sui compositori italiani nel secondo
dopoguerra, in Mila De Santis (ed.), Dallapiccola: Letture e prospettive
(Milan: Ricordi), pp. 35787.
______, 2003: Tempo e ritmo nelle composizioni seriali. 19521956, in Gian-
mario Borio, Giovanni Morelli and Veniero Rizzardi (eds.), Le musiche degli
anni cinquanta (Archivio Luigi Nono,Venice) (Florence: Leo S. Olschki), pp.
61115.
Boulez, Pierre, 1991a: Stravinsky Remains, in Paule Thvenin (ed.), Stocktak-
ings from an Apprenticeship, trans. StephenWalsh (Oxford: Clarendon Press),
pp. 55110.
______, 1991b: Possibly ... , in Paule Thvenin (ed.), Stocktakings from an
Apprenticeship, trans. StephenWalsh (Oxford: Clarendon Press), pp. 11140.
Carone, Angela, 20078: Forma e formazione nella musica strumentale di
Luciano Berio (PhD diss., Universit degli Studi di Pavia).
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Harvard University Press).
Fearn, Raymond, 1990: Bruno Maderna (Chur: Harwood).
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Komponieren zwischen 1951 und 1955 (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang).
Goeyvaerts, Karel, 1994: ParisDarmstadt 19471956. Excerpt from the Auto-
biographical Portrait, Revue belge de musicologie, 48, pp. 3554.
Grant, Morag Josephine, 2001: Serial Music, Serial Aesthetics: Compositional
Theory in Post-War Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
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George Allen & Unwin).
Hermann, Richard, 2009: On Becoming Berio: Evidence from the First Three
String Quartets, in Evan Jones (ed.), Intimate Voices: Aspects of Construction
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versity of Rochester Press), pp. 99137.
Hicks, Michael, 1989: Exorcism and Epiphany: Luciano Berios Nones, Perspec-
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Musical Analysis: Music before 1600 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell), pp. 6692.
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NJ: Princeton University Press).
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Alphonse Leduc).
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Neidhfer, Christoph, 2009: Vers un principe commun: Intgration de la
Hauteur et du Rythme dans le Quartetto per archi in due tempi de Bruno
Maderna (1955), in Genevive Mathon, Laurent Feneyrou and Giordano
Ferrari (eds.), Bruno Maderna, vol. 2 (Paris: Basalte), pp. 32358.
Osmond-Smith, David, 1991: Berio (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
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pp. 5160.
______, 1959 [1957]: Outline of a Method, Die Reihe, 3, pp. 4488.
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in Berios Sequenza I for Solo Flute, in Janet K. Halfyard (ed.), Berios
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Ashgate), pp. 191208.
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EdwardT. Cone (eds.), Perspectives on American Composers (NewYork: W. W.
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Music, 4/i, pp. 10918.
ABSTRACT
Like many other composers who later distanced themselves from serialism,
Luciano Berio (19252003) embraced its principles in the 1950s and beyond.
While Berios early serial techniques from the Due pezzi of 1951 to Nones of
1954 are well known, his subsequent serial practice is still little understood for
three principal reasons: in his writings and interviews Berio provided only
limited information on his serial works; it is very difcult to decipher Berios
later complex serial techniques from the published scores alone; and only one
sketch survives for any of his serial works from 1951 to 1958 (for Allelujah I,
19556).
Following a brief examination of the integral serialism in Nones (whose
principles have been known for some time thanks to an analytical note by Berio),
the present study investigates the serial techniques deployed in the Quartetto per
archi (19556) and Allelujah I. Berios serial materials are reconstructed with the
help of distributional analyses and from an historical angle that has been little
explored thus far: the inuence of Bruno Maderna (19201973), Berios mentor
and close collaborator at the Studio di fonologia musicale in Milan.

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cniIs1oin NrIoniri

INsIor LicI~No BriIos SriI~iIs:musa_275 301..348

D), and the

omitted. By contrast, the second layer uses mainly members of

once from the

D in Ex. 16a) are

through to D, values 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2 and 3 to seven durations (ranging

, and so on). This reading corresponds

in bar 5). I have omitted these labels

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