Transpositional Combination and Collectional Interaction in George Crumbs Vox Balaenae

George Crumbs reputation as a composer has long rested upon his novel use of extended
techniques such as prepared piano and whistling to create special timbral effectsa
characterization that has diverted attention away from other interesting features of his
compositions. Recent theoretical studies have begun to acknowledge this concern, especially in
regard to pitch organization.1 Richard Bass has emphasized the symmetrical nature of pitch
collections and formal structures in Crumbs music.2 Ciro G. Scotto has more recently argued for
the importance of other methods of pitch organization, such as those related to aggregate
partitions, transpositional combination, and transformational networks.3 My contribution to this
growing body of Crumb scholarship will demonstrate the power of transpositional combination
as it pertains to Vox Balaenae, Crumbs 1971 composition for flute, cello and piano.4 In my
analysis, I will show examples in which transpositional combination can be used to investigate
one of Crumbs primary compositional procedures: namely, the creation of large sets-classes that
are referential to either diatonic, octatonic, or whole-tone collections from the combination of
small, transpositionally related sets. My primary objective is to investigate how transpositional
combination facilitates interaction among these collections. Moreover, I will demonstrate that
1

For a recent, book-length study containing analyses that investigate a wide-range of musical elements in Crumbs
music, see George Crumb and the Alchemy of Sound, ed. Steven Burns, Ofer Ben-Amots, Michael D. Grache,
Colorado Springs: Colorado College Music Press, 2005
2
Richard Bass has authored a number of studies on the music of George Crumb, in particular see Richard Bass,
Sets, Scales, and Symmetries: The Pitch-Structural Basis of George Crumbs Makrokosmos I and II. Music
Theory Spectrum 13 (Spring 1991): 120. and "Models of Octatonic and Whole-Tone Interaction: George Crumb
and His Predecessors," Journal of Music Theory 38 (Autumn 1994): 155-186.
3
Ciro G. Scotto, Transformational Networks, Transpositional Combination, and Aggregate Partitions in
Processional by George Crumb, MTO 8.3 (2003).
4
For other studies of Vox Balaenae, see Kenneth Timm., A stylistic analysis of George Crumb's Vox Balaenae and
an analysis of Trichotomy. D.M.A dissertation, Indiana University, 1977 and Russell Steinberg, Meta
Counterpoint in George Crumbs Music: Exploring Surface and Depths in Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale), In
George Crumb and the Alchemy of Sound, ed. Steven Burns, Ofer Ben-Amots, Michael D. Grache, 211223,
Colorado Springs: Colorado College Music Press, 2005

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this type of collectional shifting is an important variation technique in Vox and that such
interaction creates a collectional conflict as the piece progresses.
Transpositional combination was first extensively explored by Richard Cohn to describe
pitch-class sets that are formed by combining transpositionally related sets.5 In my application of
transpositional combination (hereafter referred to as TC), I will detail how a limited number of
small, generating pitch-class sets are used as convergence points to connect collections through
TC. These small, generating sets are common subsets of more than one of the collections I
mentioned earlier; in other words, out of context these sets are ambiguous as to which collection
they belong. In Figure 1, which lists the dyads, trichords, and tetrachord subsets of these three
collections, the overlapping portions of the circles contain these sets, those that are collectionally
ambiguous. Set-class (026), for instance, is a subset of all three collections. In Figure 2, I have
shown two lines that both contain two realizations of this ambiguous pitch-class set: the first two
trichords of each line are identical and the second trichord in each line is related to the first by
some transposition. In the first line, TC at T2 forms a nearly complete whole-tone collection,
while in the second TC at T3 creates a six-note subset of the octatonic collection. In this context,
the (026) set-class becomes a point of confluence that connects two different collections.
This compositional procedure is particularly characteristic of Voxs construction.6 My
analysis in this paper will focus on ways that Crumb uses TC to facilitate collectional interaction
and will explore the importance of the resultant interaction on our experience of the piece. In the

See Richard Cohn, "Transpositional Combination in Twentieth Century Music," Ph.D. Dissertation, University of
Rochester, 1987. For a discussion of transpositional combination and its relationship to inversional symmetry, see,
Inversional Symmetry and Transpositional Combination in Bartk, Music Theory Spectrum 10 (1988): 1942.
Other analytical applications of transpositional combination include Mark McFarland, Transpositional
Combination and Aggregate Formation in Debussy, Music Theory Spectrum 27 (Fall 2005) and the previously
mentioned Scotto 2003.
6
Bass 1994, 176ff. discusses, in particular, whole-tone and octatonic interaction in Crumbs Makrokosmos, Volume
I.

3
first portion of this paper, I will demonstrate how TC is used in Voxs geological variations as
one of the primary means of variation. In the remaining discussion, I will use knowledge
developed in the first half specifically to explore interaction between the diatonic and octatonic
collections. While it is well known that these two collections are quite similar in terms of subset
content, I will show that their interaction is a significant feature of Voxs constructionfar
greater than a simple byproduct of subset similarity. As I will show, collectional interaction (or
even collectional conflict) between the diatonic and octatonic collections becomes a powerful
narrative strategy that guides us through the piece.
The Sea Theme and the beginning of the following Archezoic variation shown in Figure
3 both contain prominent statements of the collectionally ambiguous generator (025).7 In the Sea
Theme, realizations of this (025) set-class combine transpositionally to create a diatonic
collection, while in Archezoic the same generator combines through TC to create an octatonic
collection. In this process, the set-class (025) becomes a literal convergence point that connects
the two collections. As Figure 3a shows, the Sea Theme embeds four realizations of pitch-class
set (025). The lower bracket connects the first and last statementsthe last related to the first by
T2. As the addition table beside the example shows, these two (025) realizations result in a fivenote subset of the diatonic collection when combined at this transposition. All but two of the
pitches that fall in between these two framing statements are duplications; a duplication of the
final (025) trichord occurs in the middle of the phrase along with an inversionally-related (025)
that duplicates pitches from the collection formed by transpositional combination. The two
pitches unaccounted for in the passage so far are B
a member of the diatonic collection
implied by this combinationand A
. I will have more to say about the important function of A

7

All of the musical examples in this paper are taken from George Crumb, Vox Balaenae for Three Masked Players,
New York, C.F. Peters Corporation, 1971.

4
later in the paper. Moving from the theme to the first variation, Crumb encourages continuity by
using the [D
, E
, G
] form of (025) that ended the Sea Theme to begin the Archezoic variation
shown in Figure 3b. The maintenance of the pitch-class sets contour and order contributes to the
overall continuity. The first realization of (025) in Archezoic, however, is almost immediately
followed by itself transposed at T6 to create a six-note subset of the octatonic collection. In
Figure 4, I have summarized this interaction, which shows how the [D
, E
, G
] form of (025) is
used as a point of confluence to connect two different collections that characterize the theme and
its first variation.
This type of interaction between collections is characteristic of structural organization in
this piece.8 Using this method of TC, Crumb creates structural (or collectional) variation while
maintaining a common set-class. The analysis thus far gives a bifurcated view of TC. In one
respect, the operation defines collections through combinations that make collectionally
ambiguous set-classes collectionally specific. In another respect, TC is solely responsible for
movement away from a collection. In this type of collectional shifting, the interval of TC is
extraordinarily important; if we enter the same set-class into the operation, the interval of
transposition is the only means to output a different collection type. For example, in Figure 4 the
only element differentiating the structure of the two sections is the interval of transposition
relating the set-class generators; both sections are based on the same (025) set-class. It was a
simple change in the interval of transposition that created an octatonic collection in Archezoic
that structurally differentiated it from the Sea Theme by collection type.
It follows that in many instances Crumb does just the opposite. Rather than maintaining a
set-class as a means of continuity in the variation process, Crumb may vary the set-class and
8

This specific type of interaction also occurs moving from the Archezoic variation to the Proterozoic variation,
and moving from the final variation Cenzoic into the concluding Sea-Nocturne.

5
maintain a common interval of transposition. Because interval classes 5 and 6 are characteristic
intervals that make up the Sea Theme, these interval classes are often maintained in TC as
elements of continuity throughout the variations. In the following examples, I will concentrate
specifically on transpositional combinations in which Crumb maintains the tritone as his interval
of transposition. My goal here is not simply to illuminate another method of variation; I hope to
show that this specific type of variation contributes to a collectional conflict between the diatonic
and octatonic that becomes an integral feature of Vox Balaenaes narrative structure.
My discussion of a diatonic/octatonic conflict will revolve around Crumbs recurring use
of a diatonic quotation. The quotation occurs first in the Vocalise portion of Vox shown in Figure
5. At the moment marked Parody of Also Sprach Zarathustra, Crumb uses the famous
quotation from the opening of Strauss tone poem, altering only the roots of the quotations two
triads. If the quotation were exact, the two triads would be either B major and B minor or B
major and E major. Crumb uses, instead, F major and B minortwo inversionally related triads
whose roots are separated by a tritone. As the diagram below the example shows, the result of
this inversional combination is a six-note octatonic hexachord. The piano timpani strokes that
follow add the pitch A so that the complete pitch collection of this quotation is a seven-note
octatonic collection, missing only E
. Crumbs alteration is such that, while the Strauss quotation
undoubtedly references diatonic tonality, the two altered chords produce a completely octatonic
passage.
This is the first instance of what becomes a consistent compositional strategy throughout
Vox Balaenae. In Figure 6, I have shown a similar passage from the Cenozoic variation, which
shares similarities with the Strauss quotation just discussed. In this variation, Crumb combines
perfect fifths at T6 to produce small octatonic sets that are further combined to produce complete

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octatonic collections. As Figure 6 shows, TC of the first F
C
dyad with its T6 transposition
results in a small octatonic subset, (0167), and the further combination of (0167) at T3 produces
an entire octatonic scale. In the succeeding passage marked velocissimo, Crumb combines each
perfect fifth in the right hand with its T6 form. The whole first half of the velocissimo section is
itself transposed at T6 and is followed by a reemergence of the Strauss quotation with only the
two altered triads and timpani strokeswithout the ascending perfect fifth that began the
quotation in Vocalise. Crumbs use of the quotation here in Cenozoic places the preceding
tritone-related perfect fifths in a context that identifies them as referents of the quotations own
perfect fifth. Like the faux-diatonicism of Crumbs altered Also Sprach quotation in Vocalise,
these perfect fifths in Cenozoic become members of an octatonic collection when combined with
their T6 partners. This passage illustrates the two driving forces behind a diatonic and octatonic
conflict. Here in Cenozoic and in the quotation in Vocalise, the diatonic collections most
fundamental interval, the perfect fifth, is forced into an octatonic context when combined with
the octatonic collections most fundamental interval through TC.
A similar passage from the end of the Paleozoic variation is shown in Figure 7, which
again illustrates the importance of the tritone and perfect fifth as operands in TC. While initially
TC produces only isolated (0167) octatonic subsets through TC, the final cello passage combines
major-minor seventh chords, or set class (0258), at T6. As the addition tables show, the resulting
collection is completely octatonic. The use of major-minor sevenths here after a passage that
clearly illustrates the conflict between the perfect fifth and the tritone is quite suggestive. Apart
from its inversionally related partner, the major-minor seventh is the only triadic construction
within the diatonic scale that contains both a perfect fifth and a tritone. Also notice that Crumbs
spelling indicates a conceptual linkage to the diatonic, not octatonic, scale here. In particular, the

7
first major-minor seventh, spelled {D
FA
C
}, indicates that Crumb was thinking of the
sevenths as diatonic elements that become mutated into octatonic elements through T6
transpositional combination.
The maintenance of the tritone as an interval of transposition in the three previous
examples illustrates how Crumb uses the interval of transposition as an element of continuity
throughout Voxs variations. At the back of your handout I have included Figure 10, an extended
passage from the Mesozoic variation, which I will not have time to discuss today. I invite to
peruse this example on your own, and ask you to note the importance of the tritone as an interval
of transposition.
I have demonstrated through the previous examples that interaction among these
collections, as facilitated by transpositional combination, is an integral process of variation in
Vox. The diatonic/octatonic conflicts that I have begun to explore are part of this variation
process, and take on extraordinary power as the piece progressesespecially in the context of
the dramatic quotations.9 A final statement of the Also Sprach quotation occurs in the closing
moments of the piece, which I have shown as part of Figure 8. Notice that at this moment the
quotation is further shortened from the version used in the Cenozoic variation. It now includes
only the final timpani strokes and does not even include the two tritone-related triads that
began the diatonic/octatonic conflict in the Vocalise. A reprise of the Sea Theme quotation
occurs immediately after the quotation, and this reprise leads into the final piano gestures of the
piece. On Figure 9, I have listed the pitch content of the quotation, the Sea Theme, and these
piano gestures. As the figure shows, within this seven-note collection Crumb has embedded a B

Steinberg 2005 has discussed elements of a hidden tonic in Vox. While Steinbergs discussion of this hidden
tonic is limited, the observation is suggestive in the context of my discussion. In many ways this tonic gradually
emerges over the course of the piece, culminating in the Sea-Nocturne which is cast in a quite identifiable B
Major.

8
Major pentatonic scale, BC
D
F
G
, and a six-note octatonic collection, D
E
F
G
A
B. The octatonic pitches E
and A are the only pitches that prohibit the collection from being
completely diatonic.
In the final moments of Vox, Crumb draws our attention to these octatonic pitches, E

and A in various ways. At the reprise of the Sea Theme shown in Figure 8, E
and A are both
stressed musicallyA is emphasized in particular as the lowest pitch and the only pitch
produced through a natural rather than an artificial harmonic. You will remember that this A
was the only pitch we were not able to explain as diatonic in Figure 3. The example also shows
that the final five piano gestures, each separated by a gradually increasing amount of silence, are
strongly diatoniconly bell-like octatonic chords containing A and F preclude complete
diatonicism. Notice that Crumb articulates these octatonic bells as separate, syncopated chords
against the entirely diatonic piano gestures; the strong BF
pedal and the right hand pentatonic
figures are begun together while the A and F are articulated almost as afterthoughts.
Up until the final moments, the piece seems as if it might end with the diatonic/octatonic
conflict unresolved. However, as Figure 8 shows, immediately after Crumb indicates (dying,
dying . . .) on the score, the piano gesture returns two final times without the octatonic bells.
Crumbs notation is particularly suggestive here. Perhaps (dying, dying . . .) is written not only
as an indication of volume and mood, but also as an indication of the last interference of the
octatonic collection. Additionally, Crumb visually collapses the piano staves after the final
statement of A and F to fill the space vacated by the two octatonic pitches. In the end, it seems
as if the elements of diatonicism have outlasted their octatonic counterparts.
Analyzing this piece from a TC perspective that locates the source of this conflict, and its
resolution, in the relationship between the perfect fifth and tritone. The TC apparatus that has

9
guided this analysis can help us understand Crumbs usage of the BMajor pentatonic scale at
the end of Vox as well as his choice of A and E
as final references to the octatonic collection.
By ending the piece with a pentatonic collection, Crumb rids the diatonic collection of its only
tritone, thereby freeing the final two piano gestures of the very element that was responsible for
the subjugation of diatonicism throughout the variations. As I have shown throughout this paper,
the tritone was the one musical element responsible for mutating the diatonic elements into
octatonic collections. TC showed this by indicating the importance of the tritone as an operand in
these combinations. Along these lines, the final octatonic elements, A and F, can be regarded as
half-step alterations of the BMajor collections tritone. F, in particular, weakens the strong
perfect fifth articulated in the bass over the final measures, forming a tritone with the B tonic.
The disappearance of these elements at the pieces end indicates the dissolution of the octatonic
influence on diatonicism.
The interpretation of a conflict between these two collections is also suggestive in
conjunction with the programmatic elements of this piece. Vox Balaenae, or Voice of the Whale,
was composed 35 years ago as Crumbs reaction to hearing a tape of humpback whales singing.
While the subject matter and the geologically named variations suggest a time period before the
appearance of man, Crumbs requirement that performers wear masks indicates an underlying
human element that is further represented by the quotations from Strauss. This quotation
appearance in the Vocalise is, in fact, the first instance of diatonic/octatonic interaction, or
conflict, in the piece. These observations prompt interesting questions. Could the conflict
between diatonic and octatonic throughout Vox Balaenae be a metaphor for conflict between
man and nature? Could the gradual disintegration of the Strauss quote throughout the piece be an
analogy for the gradual disappearance of whales over timean analogy that may extend to the

10
dying octatonic collection? While the answer to such questions can be no more than
speculation, the collectional interaction I have proposed is certainly a prominent architectural
feature of this piece, and I believe that my interpretation is suggestive as a listening strategy.
To summarize, I have shown that the interaction of collections, often facilitated through
the transpositional combination of a small number of generating sets is an important feature of
Vox Balaenae. These generating sets are common to more than one collection and are used as
abstract convergence points that connect collections and sections. As I have shown, this
interaction is not simply a feature of pitch and structural organization but is also an important
feature of the pieces unfolding narrative. This preliminary study is intended to illustrate the
possibilities of this sort of analysis in the music of George Crumb. Such a study opens the door
to a more exhaustive analysis of this piece and indicates that this type of analysis may be
applicable to a large body of George Crumbs compositions.

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List of References
Bass, Richard. Sets, Scales, and Symmetries: The Pitch-Structural Basis of George Crumbs
Makrokosmos I and II. Music Theory Spectrum 13 (Spring 1991): 120.
___________. Pitch Structure in George Crumbs Makrokosmos, Volumes 1 and II Ph.D diss.,
University of Texas, 1987.
__________. Models of Octatonic and Whole-Tone Interaction: George Crumb and His
Predecessors. Journal of Music Theory 38 (Autumn 1994): 155186.
Crumb, George. Vox Balaenae for Three Masked Players. New York, C.F. Peters Corporation,
1971.
Cohn, Richard. "Transpositional Combination in Twentieth Century Music." Ph.D. diss.,
University of Rochester, 1987.
___________. Inversional Symmetry and Transpositional Combination in Bartk. Music
Theory Spectrum 10 (1988): 1942.
DeDobay, Thomas R. The Evolution of Harmonic Style in the Lorca Works of Crumb. Journal
of Music Theory 28 (1984): 89111.
McFarland, Mark. Transpositional Combination and Aggregate Formation in Debussy. Music
Theory Spectrum 27 (Fall 2005): 187220.
Scotto, Ciro G. Transformational Networks, Transpositional Combination, and Aggregate
Partitions in Processional by George Crumb. MTO 8.3 (2003)
Steinberg, Russell. Meta Counterpoint in George Crumbs Music Exploring Surface and
Depths in Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale). In George Crumb and the Alchemy of
Sound, ed. Steven Burns, Ofer Ben-Amots, Michael D. Grache, 211223, Colorado
Springs: Colorado College Music Press, 2005
Straus, Joseph, Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hal, 1990.
Kenneth Timm., A stylistic analysis of George Crumb's Vox Balaenae and An analysis of
Trichotomy. D.M.A dissertation, Indiana University, 1977.

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