Graham Newcater se strykkwartet : 'n analise

Abstract

The twelve-tone serial technique was developed by Schönberg, to create structure within atonal compositions. The String Quartet by Graham Newcater is a serial composition and the tone row used in this work, consists of atonal qualities. The tone row consists of small intervals and chromatic notes and can therefore be classified as an atonal row. The writer was interested in the fact that Graham Newcater is a relatively unknown South African composer. In chapter 2, a short biographical overview explains how the serial technique took root in his compositions. He is the only South African composer that only composes music using the twelve-tone serial technique. The different types of twelve-tone rows are discussed and illustrated by music examples in Chapter 3. In chapter 4, the application of the serial technique in the String Quartet is illustrated. In addition, chapter 4 includes an investigation into total serialism. In Composers of South Africa Today, Mary Rörich states that Newcater makes use of total serialism in the String Quartet (Klatzow 1987:109). This implies that other aspects of the composition, like dynamics and rhythm, are also subject to serialism. It is found, however, that there is no correlation between these aspects (dynamics and rhythm), and the serial content of the String Quartet. This mathematically structured technique is taken even further in composing the first movement of the String Quartet in palindrome form. The palindrome is discussed in chapter 5, including examples of palindromes from works by other composers. The third movement of the String Quartet does not only form its own palindrome, but it is also an inversion of the palindrome in the first movement. Newcater writes the following about his use of the twelve-tone serial technique: At one level I view music as a scientific and technical job, an engineering design, if you like. A mystical relationship arises between the constituent notes of a row, which should be given free play and not inhibited or distorted by over-rigorous application of the system. The twelve-tone system brings about subtle weights of sound which would never occur otherwise…the twelve-tone system offers a divine relation. It is the source not only of music but of mystic truth. (Klatzow 1987: 106)