374N l

A ;.5 7

MODALITY IN THREE OF THE CHORAL WORKS OF RALPH VAUGHAN

WILLIAMS: MASS MINOR, FIVE DOR PORTRAITS

AND _T DE IN E MINOR

THESIS

Presented to the Graduate Council of the

North Texas State College in Partial

Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

MASTER OF MUSIC

By

Eula Louise McCain, B. Mus.

Denton, Texas

August, 1957

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v. . .* . *

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . ..vi

Chapter

I. A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF RALPH VAUGHANWILLIAMS .

l

EducationCareerWorks

II. AN ANALYSIS OF THE MASS ING MINOR. . . . . 7

Influences Bearing upon Its CompositionSome Historical IncidentsThe Component Numbers of the Mass and

Requirements for PerformanceModality in the Mass in _ MinorHarmonyCounterpointPart-WritingForm

III. AN ANALYSIS OF THE MODALITY IN FIVE TUDOR POR-TRAITS AND D E., IN E MINORWT9 T) .

General Character of Five Tudor Portraitsand of Its Separate Numbers

Modality in "Pretty Bess"Harmony in "Pretty Bess"Modality in "Jolly Rutterkin"Harmony in "Jolly Rutterkin"General Character of Te Deum in E MinorModality in the Te DeumHarmony in the Modal Parts of the Te Deum

ill

TABLE OF CONTENiTS--Continued

Chapter Page

IV. CONCLUSIONS .... . . . . . . 69

Modes UsedCounterpoint in the Mass in G MinorSummary

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0 . . . ., . . 74

iv

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

I. The Percentage of Chords of the VariousFunctions as Found in the Mass in G Minor. . 19

II. The Chord Progressions Found in the Mass in GMin.n . . . . . . . . . . . . a . ~~.~~. . 29

III. The Cadences Formed by Chord Progressions inthe Mass in G Minor. . . . . . . . . . . . 32

IV. The Percentage of Chords of the VariousFunctions as Found in "Pretty Bess". . . . . 56

V. The Percentage of Chords of the Various Classi-fications as Found in "Pretty Bess". . . . . 57

VI. The Percentage of Chords of the Various Classi-fications as Found in "Jolly Rutterkin". . . 63

VII. The Percentage of Chords of the Various Classesas FoundinTeDe..*.** ,68

V

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

Mass in G .inor, "Credo," Section 1, Measures1-6, Degree-Progression and Tonality. .

M.I~|| - - in-rr,

Mass. in G Minor,Majs. in Minor, wMo

Mass in G Minor,Mass in G Minor,

Mass in G Minor,

Mass in 2 Minor,Majs in G Minor,

Mass in 2 Minor,

Mass in G Minor,

Mass. in Minor,

Mass in G Minor,

Mass in G Minor,Mass in G Minor,

"Agnus Dei," Measures 53-63" . 23

"Credo," Measures 22-25. . . . 24

"Gloria," Measures 22-24 . . . 25

"Gloria," Measures 2-9 . . . . 26

"Gloria, " Measures 9-10. . . . 27

"Sanctus," Measures 13-16. . . 28

"Gloria," Measures 36-40 . . . 30

"Kyrie," Measures 22-24. - - . 30

"Credo," Measures 47-51. - - - 31

"Kyrie , " Measures 1-8. - - - - 36

"Credo," Measures 124-126. . . 37

"Benedictus," Measures 14-18 . 39

"Gloria," Measures 68-71 . . .

"Credo," Measures 97-99. . . . 42

"Gloria," Measures 16-20 . . . 43

"Gloria, " Measures 29-33 . . . 46

18. Five Tudor Portraits,Measures 1-. . .

19. Five Tudor Porraits,Measures 11-12 . .

"Pretty Bess,". . . . . . . . . .

"Jolly Rutterkin,". . . . . . . . . .0

vi

Figure

1.

2.

3.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

. . .

. . . 59

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS--Continued

Figure Page

20. Five. Tudor Portraits , t"Jolly Rutterkin,"

MeasuresF64-67 . . . . . . . . . . . .. 60

21. Five Tudor Portraits, "Jolly Rutterkin," Meas-ures 1 -17 -.- "-. -.-.-.. . . . . . " .0.0 62

22. TeTom, Measures 173-176. ......- . . . 66

23. TePDjgu e ,Measures5-.14.. - - --.-- -. 67

vii

CHAPTER I

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

Education

Born in 1872 in a small village in Gloucestershire,

England, the son of an Anglican clergyman, Ralph Vaughan

Williams received his education in a private school for

boys in London, in the Royal College of Music, and at

Cambridge University. Among his teachers the best known,

and also the ones having the greatest influence on him,

were Hubert H. Parry, Charles Wood and Charles V. Stanford.

Vaughan Williams also studied abroad for a short time with

Max Bruch and later with Maurice Ravel.

Most important of the musical concepts which Parry

transmitted to his pupil was that the composer must write as

his musical conscience demands, that the artist must be

loyal to his art, that the English composer must write

English music.1 Parry influenced Vaughan Williams against

the use of mere effects and also stressed greatly the com-

position of choral music.2

1Ralph Vaughan Williams, "Musical Autobiography," in-cluded in Ralph Vaughan Williams by Hubert Foss (London,1950), p. 22.

2 bid., p. 2+.

1

2

To Charles Wood, Vaughan Williams pays tribute as "the

finest technical instructor I have ever known. . . . For

the craft of musical composition he was unrivalled. "3

Although the lessons with Stanford were spent in a good

deal of arguing, Vaughan Williams summarizes his comments on

these lessons: "With Stanford I always felt I was in the

presence of a lovable, powerful, and enthralling mind. This

helped me more than any amount of technical instruction."'

Stanford also introduced one of Vaughan Williams' early

works at the Leeds Festival.

Of Max Bruch, Vaughan Williams says:

It is difficult to say what it is one learns froma teacher. I only know that I worked hard and enthusi-astically, and that Max Bruch encour ged me, and I hadnever had much encouragement before.

Hubert Foss remarks about Vaughan Williams' study with

Ravel: "If the Frenchman had any influence at all, he made

Vaughan Williams realize that he was not a Frenchman. "6

Vaughan Williams himself, however, pays tribute to Ravel for

teaching him "that the heavy contrapuntal Teutonic manner

was not necessary, . . . how to orchestrate in points of

3Ibi d.,pp. 25-26. 4I , p. 28.

_Ibid., p. 30.

6Hubert Foss, Ralh Vaughan Williams (London, 1950),p. 102.

3

colour rather than in lines, (and that] one should only

develop for the sake of arriving at something better."7

"What one really learns from Academy or College is not

so much from one's official teachers as from one's fellow-

students," says Vaughan Williams.8 Playing informally in

various ensembles, attending concerts with friends, and

discussing countless subjects with them filled many hours

during student days. Undoubtedly the most significant of

the influences of fellow-students came through Gustav Hoist.

Hoist and Vaughan Williams devoted whole days sometimes to

examining each other's compositions, and did so for nearly

forty years. Concerning their association, Vaughan Williams

says:

I think he showed all he wrote to me, and I nearlyall I wrote to him. I say "nearly all" advisedly,because sometimes I could not face the absoluteintegrity of his vision, and I hid some of my worstcrimes from him. I regret now that I did not face evenhis disapproval. . .

Hoist would spend hours bringing his mastery, hiskeen vision, and his feeling for clear texture to bearon my work, especially in those clumsy places where Iwas continually getting into holes and could not findthe way out. He would not rest till he had found asolution for the problem which not only satisfied him,but one which my obstinacy would accept.9

7 Vaughan Williams, o. cit., p. 35.

8lid., p. 28.

I1d, pp. 37-38.

4~

Career

Percy Scholes states: "The collection and study of

English folk song, . . . more than anything 'else7 . .

enabled him . . . to adopt manners of expression that seemed

definitely to assort with his temperament." 1 0 It was in his

thirty-first year that Vaughan Williams began collecting

folk-songs; and the next year, 1904, he joined the Folk-Song

Society. In 1905 and 1906 much of his time was devoted to

the editing of The Enlish HBmnal, to which he contributed

a single tune. Also in 1905 he began conducting the Leith

Hill Musical Festival, which was organized in that year

under his direction and which he was still conducting in

1950, at the date of Foss' book. 1 1 The first important

public performance of one of Vaughan Williams' works came in

1907 when Toward the Unknown Region, for chorus and orches-

tra, was performed at the Leeds Festival.12

During the First World War Vaughan Williams saw active

duty in Macedonia and in France. After the war he became a

teacher of composition at the Royal College of Music in

London. In 1942, when he celebrated his seventieth

10 Percy A. Scholes, _T Oxford Companion to Music(London, 1938), p. 979.

11Foss, _o..,lij., p. 15.

1 2 David Ewen, The Complete Book of 20th-Century Music(New York, 1952), p~+~5.

5

birthday, he was still teaching once a week at the col-

lege.13 From 1920 to 1926 Vaughan Williams served as

conductor of the Bach Choir of London. In the Second World

War his work was again interrupted for patriotic duty, and

he furthered the war effort by helping on a salvage cart and

in addressing envelopes.l'

Works

"Of Ralph Vaughan Williams one might say . . . that he

has a great deal of music and very little biography."15 In

the 195+ edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and

Musicians, Vaughan Williams is credited with six operas,

four ballets, incidental music for one play, music for seven

films, nineteen pieces of church music (mostly anthems, but

including the Ma s iG Minor), eighteen hymn tunes, "a

number of arrangements of English traditional melodies and

other early hymn-tunes, mostly unacknowledged," arrangements

of two collections of carols, twenty-five works for chorus

and orchestra, sixty part-songs (including arrangements),

twenty-six orchestral works, three compositions for military

band, seven works for solo instruments and orchestra, two

for solo voices and orchestra, seven pieces of chamber

music, six pieces for piano solo and one for two pianos,

1 3 David Ewen, The Book of Modern Composers (New York,1942), p. 284.

Foss, ap. .cit., p. 16. 15Rbd.,, p. 12.

6

four compositions for organ, and forty songs, song cycles

and song collections.16 Included in the list is one work

dated in the year 195+. Vaughan Williams has also edited,

or helped edit, four volumes of music and has written a

pamphlet, a book, and several magazine articles.17

16lubert J. Foss, "Ralph Vaughan Williams: Catalogueof Works," Grov's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5thed., Vol. VIII (London, 195+).

17jbd

CHAPTER II

AN ANALYSIS OF THE IN G MINOR

Influences Bearing upon Its Composition

It was through Sir Richard Terry's influence, says

Frank Howes, that Vaughan Williams wrote his Mass in G

.Mir.. 1 As director of music at Westminster Cathedral in

London from 1901 to 1924, Terry brought about a revival of

works from the polyphonic period of English music. He also

performed much music written by his contemporaries, whom he

especially encouraged to write s capella compositions for

his choir. The Mass was composed in 1922 and was sent to

Terry for criticism. In his reply to Vaughan Williams,

Terry concluded: "In your individual and modern idiom you

have really captured the old liturgical spirit and atmos-

phere. " 2

An earlier influence than that of Terry which pre-

disposed Vaughan Williams,. in writing the Mass in Q Minor,

to follow some style features of the sixteenth-century

English composers was the influence of Sir Hubert H. Parry,

with whom Vaughan Williams studied composition at the Royal

1Frank Howes , The Mua sic of RalhJ~y _u, Williams(London, 195+), p. T.

2 Foss, Ralh Vaughan Williams, p. 189.

7

8

College of Music. Among other things, Vaughan Williams says

this about his teacher:

Parry once said to me, 'Write choral music asbefits an Englishman and a democrat." We pupils ofParry have, if we have been wise, inherited from Parrythe great English choral tradition which Tallis passedon to Byrd, Byrd to Gibbons, Gibbons to Purcell,Purcell to Battishill and Greene, and they in theirturn through the Wesleys to Parry.3

Since student days Vaughan Williams had liked the

modes and the lowered seventh scale-step. In talking about

his studies at the Royal College of Music, he says, "I was

much bitten by the modes at that time." Again he says:

When I was under Stanford I used to vex him muchwith my flattened sevenths. He tried to prove to methat the flat leading tone was pure theory, and thatall folk-songs descended on to the tonic; but I feltin my bones that he was wrong, though it was onlylater when I heard traditional singers, that I wasable to prove my point to my own satisfaction. MaxBruch was equally worried by this idiosyncrasy ofmine: he said, "S, h~ae inge Leidenschaft ftr die

Ine Septime.t"l

Hubert Foss, who was closely associated with Vaughan

Williams as the publishing editor of all his works from 1925

to 19)+l,* makes this comment:

With slight exceptions, the music of the nine-teenth-century composers seems to have passed him by,and, indeed, the music of most of the eighteenth-century composers too. His genealogical line springsfrom the Tudor school and English folk-song."

*This information is taken from the publisher's commenton the book jacket of Ralph Vaughan Williams by Hubert Foss.

3Ib~id.., p. 2+. Ibid., p. 28.

6lbid.,p ,SIb.,iP. 30.

9

Frank Howes, chief music critic of The London Timessince 19+3, music lecturer, and author of several books

about music,7 has this to say about music which has

especially influenced Vaughan Williams:

His historical . . . importance is that he is thefirst, perhaps the only English nationalist: with hisfriend Holst, he cut the ties that had bound Englishmusic to Germany and Italy. . . . Instead of lookingfor good models on the Continent these two youngEnglishmen decided to seek them at home in England'sown past. The Tudor revival, the folksong revivp1, aninterest in Purcell, gave them what they wanted.o

Some Historical Incidents

Although Terry examined the manuscript of the Mass in G

Minor, not he, but the printer discovered that the composer

had omitted the word apostolicam from the text of the Latin

Mass. The word was inserted in the bass line only ("Credo,"

measure 139), there being no room for it in the other parts.

Terry conducted the first performance in 1923 at Birmingham

Town Hall and subsequently conducted it several times at

Westminster Cathedral, where it was performed liturgically.

At the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II the "Credo" and the

"Sanctus" from the Mass were sung with English words.9

7 Eric Blom, "Frank Howes," Grove's Dictionary of Musicand Musicians, 5th ed., Vol. IV (London, 194).

8Howes, "Ralph Vaughan Williams," Grove's Dictionaryof Music and Musicians, 5th ed., Vol. VIII(London, 195+Y,p. 700.

9 Howes, Th Msi of Ralph Vaughan Williams, p. 135.

10

The Component Numbers of the Mass

and Requirements for Performance

The Mass in G Minor consists of five numbers:

1) "Kyrie," 2) "Gloria in excelsis," 3) "Credo," 4)

"Sanctus "-"Osanna I"-"Benedictus , "-"Osanna II," and

5) "Agnus Dei." The music is also published with English

words under the title Communion Service. Two mixed choirs

and a quartet of soloists are required for a performance,

which lasts about twenty-five minutes. Although it is

intended to be sung $ caDDella, the composer has written

organ introductions and accompaniments for use when "it is

not found practicable to sing the Mass entirely a cappella."lD

Modality in the Mass in G Minor

The method of combining the old liturgical modes and

the modern idiom is sometimes called "neo-modality."

According to Howes, "Vaughan Williams was a pioneer in the

use of modal melody and in developing the right kind of

modal harmony to go with it." 1 1 The Mass in G Minor

"provides a locus classicus for neo-modal harmony."1 2

1 0 Ralph Vaughan Williams, "Note," Mass in G Minor(London, 1922), p. 2.

1 1 Howes, Th eMusicf Ralph Vaughan Williams, p. 136.

12lb1.. p. 135.

11

In his use of modal melody Vaughan Williams has con-

formed closely to the sixteenth-century models. From the

opening three-measure monody to the closing, harmonized

phrase, dona nobis acem, it may be observed that, as in the

old melodies, step-wise motion predominates, with frequent

leaps of a third and less frequent larger leaps.

The composer has chosen to use chiefly two of the old

modes in the Ms--Dorian and Mixolydian. He also uses

Aeolian mode somewhat. Then, there are portions where the

mode is minor but where it is not possible to say that it is

either Dorian or Aeolian, because the sixth scale-step is

raised about half the time and lowered about half the time.

Elsewhere major and minor modes are mixed together, nearly

always with a lowered seventh step. There is one clear,

brief instance each of a strong cadence in Ionian mode and

of one in Lydian mode. Especially in the "Gloria" the

variety of tonal colors (major and minor) for chords having

the same function makes it impossible to select a definite

mode, only a tonality.

Because of the difficulty of explaining some of the

chord functions by the traditional method of analysis, the

Hindemith method has been applied in determining tonality,

though in most sections the tonality is not in doubt. In

the Hindemith method of analysis, tonality is determined by

the final root in the cadence,13 by the root which recurs

most often,1l and by the root to which the other roots bear

the closest relationl5 according to Series 1.16

Modality in the "Kyrie"

The "Kyrie" begins in the Dorian mode transposed up a

fourth to G. Its middle section (measures fifteen* to

thirty-one) is in Dorian mode on fD, with some raised thirdand seventh scale-steps. The last section is again in

Dorian mode on 2.

Modality in the "Gloria"

In the first and last sections of the "Gloria,"

approximately 35 per cent of the chords are G-chords,

either major or minor; Q is the root of the last chord inabout two-thirds of the cadences; and it stands throughout

the two sections in a close, or fairly close, relationship

to all other roots. G is the tonal center for the first

and last sections, but the various chord functions have

as many as three different spellings and sounds; for

example, the submediant chord is sometimes q _b, sometimes

*Organ introductions are not counted in the numberingof measures, but intonations are.

13Paul Hindemith, The Craft of Musical Copoition, 1+thed., Book I, translatedTy Arthur~Men ew York, 194),p. 138.

14I d. ,p. 143. 15bid. 16mbid., p. 96.

13

e d b and sometimes eb bb. The middle section of the

"Gloria" (measures forty-eight to sixty) is primarily Dorian

on D but contains some chords from the Ionian mode on Q.

Modality in the "Credo"

In the "Gloria," chords of as many as three different

spellings are used for a single function in a tonality that

does not modulate within a section. In the "Credo," the

same chord spellings (plus three more) are used, but their

functions vary from time to time in a frequently changing

tonality.

The first ten measures contain no chords,17 being

monody and two-part counterpoint doubled, or tripled, in

octaves; the tonality is D. Whether the mode is Dorian or

Aeolian is not clear, however, since in the intonation the

sixth scale-step is raised and in the counterpoint the one

sixth step is lowered. The rest of the first section

(which ends in measure sixty-five) progresses through

several tonalities and modes as follows: I) measures

eleven to eighteen, G, Mixolydian in which the third scale-

step is lowered in the mediant chord; 2) common-chord

modulation in measure eighteen to C, Ionian mode; 3) phrase

modulation at measure twenty-two to A, in which the tonic

17_Ibi..,p. 95: 'We define a chord as a group of atleast three different tones sounding simultaneously. Twotones . . . form only an interval."

chord is sometimes major, sometimes minor; 4) common-chord

modulation in measure twenty-seven to G, Mixolydian, again

with the lowered third scale-step in the mediant chord;

5) common-chord modulation in measure thirty-six to A, mixed

Dorian and Aeolian; 6) common-chord modulation in measure

fifty-four to E, first Mixolydian, then Phrygian; 7) common-

tone modulation in measure sixty to F, in which the cadence

is in Lydian mode. The accompanying figure shows the

degree-progressionl8 and the tonalities derived from it

for the first section of the "Credo." (See Figure 1.)

Thrtia;ty

S~ ir IOV'1OK~I6JIAI

"*

*"e

A----"

l8Ibid., p. 11+3: "The roots which support the burdensof larger harmonic groupings may be called de rees, andtheir succession in accordance with the demands of Series 1the degree-progression."

to - - IL--" - - ---- is wL_ e.

J

TAOF v --

1

" 71r a r" r . s r. r . . . . . r r w.. .w . . . r r" ,

Fig. 1--M. in G or, "Credo," section 1, measures1-65', degree-progression and tonality.

Section two of the "Credo" is marked lento and has F as

tonal center. The mode fluctuates between Dorian and

Ionian, with the third and the seventh scale-steps some-

times lowered, sometimes raised and the sixth step always

raised. The final cadence is from the mediant chord in

Dorian mode to tonic in Ionian mode, both chords in the F

tonality.

In the third section of the "Credo," allegrocon _o,

modulations again take place, though not as rapidly as in the

first section. The section begins in D tonality, in which the

mode is primarily Mixolydian. In measure one hundred one

there is a modulation by common chords to _--again, as in

I

I.

16

measures thirty-six to fifty-four, mixed Dorian and Aeolian.

Just before the end of the section there is a common-chord

modulation and a subtonic to tonic cadence in E, Mixolydian

mode.

The last section of the "Credo," marked andante, is in

3, Aeolian mode, for about thirty measures, with an

occasional altered chord. In measure 153 the tonality

modulates by common chords to G, of no certain mode.

Modality in "Sanctus"-"Osanna I"- "Benedictus "- "OsannaIt,

In the fourth number of the M both altered chords

and modulation are used, but more than half the time the

tonal center is G and the mode Mixolydian in which the

submediant chord usually contains the lowered third scale-

step. The exceptions to the G tonality are: 1) in the

"Sanctus," measures seventeen to twenty-one, A, Mixolydian,

in which the submediant chord has the lowered third scale-

step; 2) in the "Sanctus," measures twenty-nine to thirty-

nine, E, Aeolian; 3) in the "Benedictus," measures ten tothirteen, D, Mixolydian, and measure fourteen and following

A, Aeolian; +) in "Osanna II," measures one to three, still

in A.

Modality in the "Agnus Dei"

The final number of the mss, "Agnus Dei," alternates

between two tonalities, G and B. The first phrase is in E

17

and has about an equal number of raised and lowered second

scale-steps and of raised and lowered third scale-steps; it

has the raised sixth scale-step and lowered seventh. The

phrase is transposed to Q and repeated with a short exten-sion which gets it back to 9, and a new phrase in that

tonality. Then comes a repetition of half of the first

phrase, exactly as before, followed by a partial repetition

in Q, here with a cadence in Q. The next phrase, which

starts at tranuillo, goes from Q to E; and the next, from

E to G, from which point (measure thirty-three) to the end

the tonality remains G and, except for the lowered third

scale-step in the mediant chord, the scale-steps fit the

Mixolydian mode.

Harmony

Chord Structure

The harmonic material from which Vaughan Williams has

built the Mass consists of nine major and eight minor chord

spellings, passing tones, neighboring tones, suspensions

and, rarely, other nonchord tones. Of the seventeen chords,

ten are used a great deal, varying from one hundred thirty-

four occurrences to thirty-nine.* These are, in order of

the number of times they appear: g b d, _aC,C e g,

ace, .e&b, df a, g bb d, b df#, fbb ifand d a.

*Chord repetitions are not counted.

Three more chords are fairly common, occurring from twenty-

one to eleven times; and these are, in order: a 1,

e gf band s bb. Four are rare, occurring from six times

to once only:b cb, eb ,f .b candIaAf. A

single diminished chord appears, formed by a5-6 passing tone

("Agnus Dei," measure twenty-seven); a few seventh chords

are similarly formed by passing sevenths, by chords changing5 6

from 5 to 5 or by some other passing-tone formation. All3 3

twelve tones of the chromatic scale are used and only one of

these has two spellings. The tones are spelled: &, g I or

ab, a, bb, b, c, j , d, eb, e, f andf #.

Chord Functions

In the complete count of chord functions in the Mas,

29 per cent of the chords have tonic function; and this per-

centage is about the same in all parts of the Mass except

the "Gloria' where it is 35 per cent for tonic chords. In

the over-all view the chords of subtonic function come

second, having 16 per cent of the total; there are no

leading-tone chords. Third in order are subdominant chords,

with 14 per cent; then dominant, 13 per cent; mediant, 10

per cent; supertonic, 10 per cent; and submediant, 7 per

cent. So, except for tonic chords, the graduation in

percentage between the other functions is somewhat close.

Although the percentage of tonic chords in most parts

of the Mass is about the same, some other functions vary in

19

percentages between the minor-like parts, the major-like

parts and the parts where no certain mode is prevalent.

About 36 per cent of the Mass is in one of the minor-like

modes--Aeolian, Dorian or a combination of those two. About

33 per cent is in a major-like mode--Mixolydian, plus three

measures in Ionian mode. About 31 per cent has no certain

mode. Table I gives a comparison of the chord functions in

the predominantly major-like portions, the predominantly

minor-like ones and in the portions where the functions

continually vary in color.

TABLE I

THE PERCENTAGE* OF CHORDS OF THE VARIOUS FUNCTIONSAS FOUND IN THE MASS IN G MINOR

In Minor- In Major- In Cases For theFunction like like of No Par- Entire

Modes Modes ticular WorkV0dA

Tonic 27% 28% 31% 29%

Supertonic 8% 10% 114% 10%

Mediant 11% 6% 12% 10%

Subdominant 15%14% 12% 14%

Dominant 17% 16% 8% 13%

Submediant 9% 6% 5% 7%

Subtonic 13% 20% 17% 16%

*Percentages given to the nearest whole number.

20

From the table it can be seen that the functions which vary

most greatly in percentage of usage are the dominant and the

subtonic, while the ones which vary least are the tonic,

subdominant and submediant. Except in the minor-like modes.

the subtonic has displaced the dominant as the chord next in

importance to the tonic.

Although the chord colors vary frequently in the parts

of the Mass which have no particular mode, they also vary

somewhat in the modal parts. In the parts with no particu-

lar mode the tonic chord is major a little more than half

the time and minor a little less than half the time. In the

major-like modes about 5 per cent of the tonic chords have a

lowered third; and in the minor-like modes about 12 per cent

of the tonic chords have a raised third, most of these

functioning as a tierce de Picardie.

Most of the supertonic chords are minor under all

circumstances. In the major-like modes they are diatoni-

cally minor. In the minor-like modes the minor supertonic

results from a raised sixth scale-step, which is, of course,

diatonic in Dorian mode. However, in the uncertain modes

about 20 per-ent of the supertonic chords are major, half

of these having the second and sixth scale-steps lowered

(sounding like the Neapolitan sixth chord, but not neces-

sarily in first inversion), half having the fourth step

raised.

21

Nearly all the mediant chords are major. They occur

diatonically major in both Aeolian and Dorian modes. In all

other cases the major mediant chord results from lowered

third and seventh scale-steps. Most of the mediant chords

which are not found diatonically major occur in Q tonality,

where there are thirty-one bb d f chords. Nine b d

chords also occur in Q tonality, the only minor mediant

chords in the Mass.

The subdominant chord is major in the major-like modes

and is major 85 per cent of the time where no mode controls.

In minor-like modes about two-.thirds of the time the sub-

dominant is major and one-third of the time minor, the sixth

step being the tone effecting the difference.

Since Aeolian, Dorian and Mixolydian modes all have the

lowered seventh scale-step, most of the dominant chords are

minor. About 12 per cent of them, however, are major,

distributed approximately equally among the three main types

of harmony--major-like, minor-like and that of uncertain

mode.

In Mixolydian mode the submediant chord is minor with

one exception; the single major submediant chord in this

mode results from a raised first scale-step. In the minor-

like modes the submediant chord is major 82 per cent of the

time, regardless of the nature of the original mode; 18 per

cent of the time it is minor, with raised third and sixth

22

steps. Where there is no particular mode, it is minor half

of the time and major half of the time. Here the major

submediant chord is usually created through lowered third

and sixth, but there are two instances of a raised first

scale-step.

The subtonic chord is nearly always major, all ten

exceptions occurring where there is a tendency toward

Phrygian mode--in measures fifty-seven to fifty-nine of the

"Credo" and in measures one to thin'ty-three of the "Agnus

Dei"; there are also four major subtonic chords in the latter.

Chromaticism

Vaughan Williams has definite preferences in his neo-

modal harmony for certain altered tones; but, for the most

part, his preferences coincide with the scale-step differ-

ences that exist between the modes. The tones which he most

frequently alters are the third and the sixth scale-steps,

which are found lowered in some modes and raised in others.

Fairly often he lowers the second scale-step, as in

Phrygian mode, or raises the seventh scale-step, as in

Lydian and Ionian modes. Occasionally he raises the fourth

scale-step, as in Lydian mode, or raises the first scale-

step, which, of course, is not raised in any mode. The

fifth scale-step is the only one which he never alters.

Most of the chromaticism in the Mass comes from com-

bining chords from two, or sometimes three, modes, all

23

transposed to a common tonality. One of the most used sets

of chords in the composition is as follows: tonic, super-

tonic, subdominant, dominant, submediant and subtonic from

Mixolydian mode, with the mediant chord borrowed from the

parallel Dorian or Aeolian mode. In Q tonality the chords,

then, of this combination are: tonic, & b d; supertonic,

. .; mediant, bb d f; subdominant, c e g,; dominant, d ;

submediant, & &b; and subtonic, .c. The closing phrase

of the . uses all these chords but the supertonic. In

Figure 2 the score is condensed from twelve staves to two

for convenience in analyzing the harmony.

Fig. 2--Mas in G Minor, "Agnus Dei," measures 53-63.

In the case of Mixolydian mode with altered mediant

chord, and in numerous other cases, the composer's purpose

in using an altered tone seems to be to avoid a triad with a

tritone. Occasionally, in a given mode, Vaughan Williamsalters first one tone of a chord, then another, in correct-

ing the diatonic triton chord. For example, in "Osanna I,"

where the mode is Mixolydian and the tonality Q, there are

only two occurrences of the mediant chord; and one is

spelled bbd d f (measure six), the other b 4 fd (measure

nineteen). In the second instance, the chord progresses to

e g where bb would cause an interval of an augmented

fourth between the two roots,which are in the bass; so

b d is chosen to avoid a tritone interval in the bass

line.

Sometimes the composer's motive in combining chords

from two or more modes seems to be to create cross-relation,

a favorite device of Elizabethan, and many other English,

composers. In Figure 3 the tonality is A and the chords arefrom Aeolian and Mixolydian modes, with scales starting on

A. The cross-relation occurs between the c's and the in

the second and third measures of Figure 3.

Choru. Choru% if

Fig. 3--MasinQ oG r, "Credo," measures 22-25

" '

I

Finally, the chromaticism in the Mass arises from

altered chords other than those "borrowed" from a parallel

mode. Some of these altered chords are taken from a

closely-related tonality and are very ordinary altered

chords, such as the c chord in Figure 4.

r Aima-r

Fig. 4--Mass in G Minor, "Gloria," measures 22-24,Chorus I.

The roots of other altered chords are not closely

related to tonic, according to Hindemith's Series I.

Particularly in the "Gloria" are these more-distantly

related chords found. Sometimes the music seems to be

modulating, but (except in the middle section, which is in

the tonality of the dominant) the chords in the "Gloria"

repeatedly come back to G as tonic. Figure 5 shows the

first two phrases of the "Gloria" (excepting the intona-

tion) which contain some rather distantly related altered

chords.

26

o*

-rn

Fig. S--Mays in GMno r, "Gloria," measures 2-9

Chord Progressions

In examining the chord progressions in the Mass, one

finds that a large number of them are step-wise, actually 58

per cent, as compared with 23 per cent whose roots are a

fifth apart and 19 per cent whose roots are a third apart.

Besides occurring singly, step-wise progressions occur in

two types of groupings: 1) as short harmonic streams and

2) as two chords occurring alternately with each other

several times in succession.

In length, the harmonic streams vary from what might

technically be called a stream of only three chords (of

which there are numerous examples) to one of thirteen chords

(in the "Gloria," measures sixty-eight to seventy). Streams

27

which are in three voices occur usually in parallel motion

and either in root position (for example, in the "Gloria,"

measures fifty-two to fifty-three) or in first inversion

(the "Kyrie," measure eight). Where there are four or more

voices, usually three voices move parallel and one or more

move contrary, as:

Fig. 6--Mass in G Minor, "Gloria," measures 9-30,Chorus II.

Other examples of fairly long harmonic streams are found in

the following locations: "Kyrie," measure eleven; "Gloria,"

measures fifteen, forty-nine to fifty, fifty-five to fifty-

seven; "Credo," measures eleven to thirteen; "Sanctus,"

measures eight to nine, seventeen to twenty-one; "Bene-

dictus," measures six to nine.

In the groups of two alternating chords there usually

is not a great deal of parallel motion, especially in series

longer than two occurrences of each chord. The chords in a

single series appear in root position and in inversions, and

the various voices combine step-wise movement and skips, as:

28

c~KorwA.~%I[.SA)

Fig. 7--M . in G Min , "Sanctus," measures 13-16

Among the groups of alternating chords, the longest series

are found: in the "Gloria," measures seventy to seventy-

three; in the "Credo," measures one hundred sixty-two to one

hundred sixty-four; in the "Sanctus," measures two to four

and fourteen to sixteen. (See Figure 7).

A tabulation of the chord progressions of the Maissin G

Minor shows that all chords but the dominant go most often

to one of their two adjacent chords and that all but the

submediant and the subtonic go next most often to the other

adjacent chord. For example, the tonic goes most frequently

to the subtonic,which is the adjacent chord below, and next

most frequently to the supertonic, which is the adjacent

chord above.

With one exception, the chords are preceded most fre-

quently by an adjacent chord; chords more than a step from

the tonic are preceded second most frequently by the tonic

chord. The exception is the submediant, in which the order

29

is reversed: it is preceded most frequently by the tonic

and second most frequently by an adjacent chord.

TABLE II

THE CHORD PROGRESSIONS FOUND INTHE ES -IN..MI

First Chord Number of Progressions to:in the

Progression I II III IV V VI VII

I 3* 39 23 24 21 16 83

II 39 ... 17 9 10 2 4

II 17 21 ... 22 9 8 8

IV 23 6 30 ... 42 6 6

V 48 5 6 31 1* 14 13

vI 8 5 2 15 12 1* 20

VII 78 4 14 9 16 12 ..

*Not repeated chords, but changesform to the minor.

from the major

The most common chord progressions in the Mass are, in

order: 1) tonic to subtonic, 2) subtonic to tonic, 3)

dominant to tonic, 4) subdominant to dominant, 5) tonic to

supertonic, 6) supertonic to tonic, 7) dominant to sub-

dominant, 8) subdominant to mediant and 9) subdominant to

tonic. Of the forty-two different chord progressions, these

nine comprise 50 per cent of the total number of progres-

sions.

30

Out of seven hundred ninety-seven chord progressions in

the Mass sixty-eight are cadences. There are other cadences

which are not chord progressions, such as cadences to a

unison or to an interval, for example:

N m" .I

Fig. 8 -- uMass in G Minor, "Gloria," measures 3 6-40

Frequently in contrapuntal parts of the Mass melodiccadences do not coincide, and harmonic cadences are

therefore avoided for a time, as:

l-i--- - --- - - $ort c - eA

- - t- - -- e le -- ---- - - - S-- --

*Meo c cla.d e4ce s

Fig. 9--Mass .in G Minor, "Kyrie," measures 22-24+

. 44

I

31

A number of times in antiphonal portions one of the choirs

stops singing without coming to a cadence, as the other

choir continues the phrase:

per o - m ni - 4 , pe rpt sea

0--

Fig. 10--Mass in G Mid , "Credo," measures 47-51

In Table III the sixty-eight chord-progression

cadences are given and a location of one example of each

type of cadence is cited. No distinction is made for

inversions. The letters M and m are used as abbreviations

for major and minor, respectively.

32

TABLE III

THE CADENCES FORMED BY CHORD PROGRESSIONSIN THE MASS IN G MINOR

4- o m One Location in the Masso -ot (mm. = measures)

$4 0$00it __ __ _ L _ __ __ __ _

Lydian

Mixolydian

Dorian

Dorian,Piccardythird

Dorian

minor-like,***

Piccardythird

none

1

3

2

1

1

2

"Credo," mm. 64-65

"Credo," mm. 12-13

"Gloria," m. 50

"Gloria," mm. 56-57

"Gloria," m. 60

"Agnus Dei, " mm. 2-3

"Credo, " mm. 7+-75

*The mode may be uncertain, but the cadence fit aparticular type of mode.

**Indication of alterations refer to scale steps, e.g.I in C minor is spelled cg e g.

3

***Not the same mode in each instance, but some typeof minor-like mode.

Il-I

II-I

II-I

II-I**

3

Isl-I

III-I

M-M

m-m

m-M

M-m

M-M

M-M

3

Ill-Ib b37 I

33

TABLE III--Continued

- mi m -ini in m nin

0 0n

*0E-4 ,iN One Location in the Massao , I(mm. - measures)00 0 to 00

uncertain

Dorian

Aeolian

Ionian

Mixolydian

Aeolian

minor-like,Piccardythird

Aeolian

Mixolydian

Dorian

minor-like,Piccardythird

none

none

1

1 4

1

6

2

4

9

5

2

1

"Credo," mm. 2+-25

"Kyrie," m. 10

"Credo," mm. 140-11

"Credo," mm. 19-29

"Credo," mm. 44-45"Credo," m. 145

"Agnus Dei," mm.4-5

"Benedictus," mm. 23-2

"Gloria," mm. 75-76

"Kyrie," mm. 42-13

"Sanctus, " mm. 38-39

M-M

m-rn

N-N

rn-rn

rn-N

N-rnN-N

N-rnM-I

M-M

M-N

IV-I

'V-I

IV-I'

v-I

V-I

V-I

V-I

3

VI-I

VII-I

VII-I

VII-I

3

I4

VI-"I

#1

"Gloria," mm. 15-16

m..El

"Gloria ," mm. 5-6

34

TABLE Ill--Continued

,, One Location in the Masso) W 0 E q4tH(nun. measures)

00 0 P0 o

0Cfl.5 00. -C

Mixolydian

Ionian

Mixolydian

Mixolydian

none

Aeolian

none

V-IV

I-V

I-V

'V-V

IV-V

7

VI-V

VII-V

7

'-VI

I

IV-VII

7

none

1

1

1

1

3

2

1

1

1

"Benedictus," mm.

tBenedictus,t" mm.

26-27

8-9

"Credo," m. 72

"Credo," m. 15

"Sanctus," mm. 4-5

"Credo," mm. 1340-135

"Credo," mm. 82-83

"Gloria, " mm. 9-10

"Agnus Dei," m. 32

none

m-M

M-M

M-m

M-m

M-M

M-m

M-m

M-M

m-M

1 1

35

Of the chord-progression cadences fifty-three, or 78

per cent, have the tonic as the final chord of the cadence.

There are twenty-nine different types of cadences, as

listed. The most frequently used are the three types of

subtonic-to-tonic cadences, and some form of this cadence is

used to close each of the five numbers of the Mass. The

first three numbers and the last one end with a chord

progression VII-I. The other number ("Sanctus"-"Osanna I"-

"Benedictust"-"Osanna II") ends with the choirs in unison on

a lowered seventh scale-step ascending to eight.

Counterpoint

Like the counterpoint of the sixteenth century, the

counterpoint of the Mass in. Minor is based on imitation.

The imitation occurs at various intervals, that of the

octave being favored somewhat over others. The opening

measures of the "Kyrie" (Figure 11) show imitation at the

fifth below, at the original pitch, at the fourth above and

at the octave above the original pitch.

The first section of the "Kyrie" continues with two

more introductions of the theme: beginning in measure ten,

the bass part, at the fifth below; beginning in measure

twelve, the alto part, at the original pitch, using the

entire theme as first presented.

Uf

y,,,. LLnr

Of 0

Ky

Ky - -e

-e- -r-

poie~

., G ... -_ IeJ.

t--- e -IvJ -

Saov e - . is1e i

lei - - - - - - -

Fig. 1l--M in .G Minor,"Kyrie," "measures 1-8

Tn Figure 11 one may observe another way in which

Vaughan Williams has not followed the old practice: his

soprano entry, measure seven, is syncopated, coming on the

second half of the beat.

)

36

jT

Tmo

/

.. c

f

t

T*' rrtfrT

i

W

(e

E

t

7

AL

D--

i

n

37

In the middle section of the "Kyrie" the soprano

soloist announces a new theme, in measure fifteen. Follow-

ing in imitation are the tenor soloist at the octave,

measure seventeen; the alto soloist at the unison, measure

twenty-one; and the bass soloist at the octave, measure

twenty-six.

In the last section of the "Kyrie" the imitation is

practically the same as in the first section, though the

material between entries is, in some cases, extended. The

last entry, by the basses, uses only the first two notes of

the theme and is sung again, after two intervening beats of

silence in the bass line. Like the first section, the last

closes with a repetition of the subject in full, sung by the

altos and ending in three measures of monody.

In the andante section of the "Credo" the composer

introduces a theme which he uses first in contrapuntal

imitation and then in several other ways. The soprano

soloist announces it:

Et Seri- ptt tj mSAam e,,-pi-nu IK

Fig. 12--Mass in G Minor, "Credo," measures 12+-126,soprano solo line.

The tenor soloist follows in imitation at the octave (measure

126), and then the bass soloist, at the octave (measure 129).

38

Of the subject, only a few notes comprise the figure

which is imitated, usually the second, third, fourth and

fifth notes. Sometimes the first note is included and some-

times the fifth note is omitted. Actually, the complete

subject merely states the figure twice in different

rhythms. The figure appears again within the soprano line

in her second phrase. In the section it is also found in

the soprano part in several harmonic phrases (measures 130,

135, 11+1, 14+6); in a stretto passage (measures 137-140); in

the bass part of chorus II (measure 145); 9 times in a canon

between the soprano sections of the two choirs, where the

figure is used sequentially (measures 150-154); in the

soprano part of chorus I (measure 159, measure 160); and in

the soprano part of chorus II (measure 162, measure 1614).

Other examples of contrapuntal imitation are found in

the following places: in the "Gloria,t" measure sixty-four,

the two alto parts (embedded in a stretto passage); in the

"Credo," measures one to ten and measure sixty-six; in the

"Sanctus," measures one to four, seven and eight, thirteen

and fourteen; in the "Benedictus," measures eighteen to

twenty-one, the solo voice parts; in the "Agnus Dei,"

measures twenty-three and twenty-five.

Another contrapuntal device which Vaughan Williams uses

several times is stretto. In Figure 13 a type of tonal

answer is used in the tenor and soprano voices. These two

39

instances are the clearest examples of tonal answers in the

M!iu, most of the others merely omitting the first note.

pa w.;

e- nt

"-

rfl o - r w - ni , ' D - YM t - f l t .~

_Lm

u v c-t i ye~n- al t t7o - - - ' '-ve 1 Do- r 1 .n~

Fig. 13--Mass in G Mnor, "Benedictus, " measures 14-18

Other stretto passages are found: in the "Gloria,"

beginning in measure twelve, chorus II; in the "Gloria,t"

measure sixty-one; in the "Gloria," measure sixty-three

(overlapping with the previous stretto); in the "Agnus Dei,"

measure ten and measure forty-three.

Canons also occur in the Mms, one of which has been

mentioned on page 38. The first one is a quadruple canon

sung simultaneously by the sopranos of chorus II with the

sopranos of chorus I and by each of the other sections of

one chorus with the corresponding section of the other

chorus. In Figure 14 the corresponding parts have been

copied adjacent to each other, in order to show more clearly

the four simultaneous canons.

Sop

AIto

Tenor

Ten or

II _

A - - - - men, -- - - -. - -meA

AA-- --- A

- - - - - men ,A - - - - - - enAI mn

ii:

Fig. 14--Mass in G Minor, "Gloria," measures 68-71,with the order of the voice-parts changed.

'1% A- _

i

3

9

A - -tnen, A --m-n menA

41

In measures one hundred fifty to one hundred fifty-five

of the "Credo" there are other simultaneous canons, between

the two soprano sections and between the two bass sections.

The alto sections and the tenor sections have a few notes of

imitative counterpoint, each with the corresponding section

of the other chorus, during the portion.

The second part of the "Sanctus," from measure twenty-

two to the end, contains a mixture of several contrapuntal

devices. The two soprano sections sing a canon at the

unison, four phrases in length. During the canon the altos

of chorus I announce a different subject, which the other

altos answer. In the seventh measure of the canon, which is

about the middle of it, the altos of chorus I sing seven

notes taken from the beginning of the canon, at the fourth

below; the other altos act as their contrapuntal associate.

The two alto sections sing a motive in imitation on the

words "gloria tua." Then, just as the sopranos of chorus

II, following the other sopranos, start the last phrase of

the canon, three other things begin to happen simultane-

ously: 1) the altos of chorus I begin the canonic theme at

its original pitch; 2) the altos of chorus II start it in

inversion at the sixth above, though not strict inversion;

3) the basses of both choirs together sing the entire first

phrase of the canon in augmentation at the third below,

filling in some leaps with passing tones and adding one

upper neighboring tone--the g three measures before the

end.

Part-Writing

Both in the contrapuntal and in the homophonic parts of

the Mass the occurrence of parallel fifths between voices is

common. Throughout the work, between outside voices con-

trary motion occurs much more than any other kind. However,

Vaughan Williams uses a great many parallel fifths, even

between outside voices:

Fig. 15--Mass in G Minor "Credo," measures 97-99

In several measures of two-part imitative counterpoint,

doubled in octaves, parallel motion occurs in open fifths,

as in organum:

Fig. 16--Mass in G Minor, "Gloria," measures 16-20

Most of the English composers of the sixteenth century

avoided parallel fifths and octaves, but Croce and Farnaby,

particularly, wrote them into their works again and again.19

In his Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musieke

(1597), Thomas Morley deplored the tendency of his time to

disregard, in this respect, the practice established by

his predecessors and cited the works of Alfonso (except in

one place), Orlando, Striggio, Clemens, Fayrfax, Taverner,

Shepherd, Mundy, Whyte, Parsons and Byrd as being free of

such parallelisms.20 So Vaughan Williams has sided with the

minority.

19Edmund Horace Fellowes The English Madrigal Com-posers (London, 1921), pp. lli-11?.

20Thomas Morley, A Plain and Fas Introduction to Prac-tical Music, ed. R. Alec Harman7(New York, 1953), p. 255.

Form

One of the fundamental notions of sixteenth-century

English composition was to divide a work into short

sections, each consisting of several points of imitation

and each ending with an important close.21 The first phrase

of the text was presented in contrapuntal imitation, the

phrase of music being called a "point of imitation." 2 2

Usually, before all voices finished the first point, the

second point, with the second phrase of the text and with

new musical material, was begun. The work continued thus to

some important conclusion in the text, when the voices ended

simultaneously on a major triad. A few composers used some

homophonic phrases (as, for example, Byrd, in his Massfir

Three Voices), or, occasionally, homophonic sections.

About half the music of the Mas in G Minor is homo-

phonic in texture, and most of these portions are sung

antiphonally between the two choirs. About two-fifths of

the music is contrapuntal and is sung by the choirs together

in four or eight parts or by the soloists as a quartet.

(Occasionally in the antiphonal portions one of the choirs

has a bit of counterpoint.) The remainder of the music is

2 1 H. E. Woolridge, MhePolyphonic Period, Part II,Vol. II of The Oxford History of Music. 2nd ed., revised byPercy C. Buck(London, 1932), p. 177.

22Willi Apel, "Point," definition 3 Harvard Dictionaryof Music (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 19443, p. 59O.

monodic and occurs mostly in the responsorial parts of the

Mass. In these parts the soloists in turn sing a phrase,

which is answered by the choirs in harmony.

The form of the Mass in G Minor does not closely

resemble the large body of sixteenth-century sacred choral

music. Much of the Mass is composed as a chain of over-

lapping phrases, each one differing melodically from the

others; but most of these phrases are homophonic, while the

great proportion of the earlier music was polyphonic.

Single phrases of music in the Mass are often sung twice in

succession, nearly always with different words. Unlike what

can be found to any appreciable extent in the sixteenth

century, there is a great deal of further thematic repeti-

tion in the Mass. Sometimes the repetition is exact, or

nearly so, sometimes disguised; sometimes it occurs between

adjacent portions of music, sometimes between widely

separated portions.

The "Kyrie" is contrapuntal and is in ternary form.

The outer sections, which are sung to the words Kyrie

eleison, have the same thematic material; and the middle

section, Christe eleison, has different thematic material

and a different tonality, the tonality of the dominant. Use

of any type of ternary form was uncommon in the sixteenth

century.

The "Gloria" is in three sections--the first, anti-

phonal and principally homophonic; the second, responsorial

and by phrases alternately monodic and homophonic; the last,

contrapuntal. Most often the phrases overlap between the

two choirs or between a soloist and the choirs by only half

a beat; a few phrases do not overlap at all, and several

overlap by half a measure or more. There are a few repeated

phrases. One of these is repeated six times with some minor

changes. It begins in measure twenty-nine as choir I sings

omnipotens:

Iorn- i- -- - t

Fig. 17--ia s. in G Minor, "Gloria," measures 29-33,Chorus I, soprano line.

Chorus II omits the first note and the passing-tone a of the

phrase, and chorus I confirms the changes in another repeti-

tion. Then the phrase is sung in augmentation at a pitch a

fourth lower but with no change in tonality. It is repeated

twice at the lower pitch, not in augmentation, but with a

small alteration at the end. Finally, the phrase is sung

again in augmentation and at a pitch still another fourth

lower but still in the same tonality. Although there is no

thematic repetition between the first and last sections of

the "Gloria," they are in the same tonality, while the

middle section is in the tonality of the dominant.

4+7

The "Credo" is in four sections--aillegro con moto,

lento, allegro con moto and andante. The first section

begins with a phrase of two-part imitative counterpoint sung

by the two choirs; the rest of the section is antiphonal and

homophonic. Section two has one phrase of imitative

counterpoint which is sung by the soloists, a phrase of

homophony sung by the choirs, a phrase of monody ,sung by the

alto soloist, and two more phrases of homophony sung,

respectively, by three of the soloists and by the choirs.

In the first two sections there is no more than a hint of

thematic repetition between any of the phrases. At the

beginning of the third section (measure eighty-eight) there

is a repetition of the first phrase of the "Credo" (not

counting the intonation) in which the middle part of the

phrase is somewhat changed, both melodically and harmoni-

cally. Five more measures follow in the same tonality; then,

from measures one hundred one to one hundred twenty-four,

the tonality and mode, much of the harmony and many of the

melodic intervals are those of part of the first section,

measures thirty-six to fifty-six. In these partially

repeated measures, along with necessary rhythmic changes,

the composer has omitted measures thirty-seven and forty and

has replaced measures forty-three to forty-five with dif-

ferent material (measures one hundred eight to one hundred

ten).

48

The opening of the last section of the "Credo" is

contrapuntal and is therefore discussed under the subject of

counterpoint, page 37. The number concludes with "amens"

which are reminiscent of those with which the "Gloria" ends:

the tonality and mode are the same, and the melodic lines

and harmony are similar.

The "Sanctus" is in two sections. The first of these

is composed of three melismatic phrases in contrapuntal

imitation sung by the women of the two choirs, each phrase

ending with a sustained, repeated chord sung by the full

choirs. The second section has a theme of rounded contour,

and the contrapuntal construction of the section is dis-

cussed on page 41.

"Osanna I" is antiphonal. The first phrase is sung

twice; then comes a new phrase and another repetition of the

first phrase, all with an overlapping of two to three beats.

A second new phrase is sung three times, each time somewhat

different from the others and with overlappings of four

beats. Before the conclusion of the second repetition a

short group of antiphonal phrases on the word osanna is

begun, and the ending is with a phrase similar to what is

called above "the second new phrase.t"

Two themes furnish the melodic material of the "Bene-

dictus." The first theme is usually sung by the soloists in

turn at pitches suited to their ranges and is alternated

with the second theme, which is usually sung by the choirs.

49

Following the soloists' third presentation of the theme,

which is contrapuntal (measure eighteen), instead of answer-

ing them with the second theme, the choirs answer anti-

phonally with the second half of the first theme. Then the

soloists conclude the number with the second theme.

"Osanna II" is a repetition of the latter part of

"Osanna I"--specifically, of measures seventeen to the end;

but some of the material sung simultaneously in antiphony

by the choirs in the first "Osanna" is omitted in the second

"Osanna" and only what is sung by one of the choirs is: used.

The "Agnus Dei" is in two sections, of which the first

is a setting for the words Agnus Dei, gui tollis peccata

n and the second is a setting of donenos. acem. The

first phrase is homophonic, sung by the soloists. It is

repeated by the choirs at a minor third higher. After an

intervening stretto passage in the first tonality, the two

homophonic phrases recur in abbreviated form in their

respective tonalities, as at first.

By repeating material from the "Kyrie," the second

section of the "Agnus Dei" ties the whole composition to-

gether. Dona nobis pacem begins in contrapuntal imitationon the theme used previously for Christe eleison ("Kyrie,"

measure fifteen). Instead of continuing in counterpoint,

however, as in the "Kyrie," after the one contrapuntal

phrase the work reverts again for a while to homophony. In

this homophonic portion, the melody is that which the altos

50

have just sung in the single contrapuntal phrase, as well as

at the corresponding place in the "Kyrie." Besides this

theme, which, from this point (measure thirty), is the one

used most to the end of the work, the soprano soloist, then

the tenor soloist sing the first theme of the "Agnus Dei" as

a solo chant between some of the phrases, overlapping at

both ends. The work concludes as the full ensemble of

choirs and soloist sings the phrase don nobis scem in

augmentation. Here the melody begins at a high pitch and is

given an inward extension so as to end on the tonic note.

CHAPTER III

AN ANALYSIS OF THE MODALITY IN F ETUDOR PORTRAITS

AND TE DEUM IN E MINOR (1954)

Since the Mass in G Minor is Vaughan Williams' prin-

cipal work in modal vein, it has been discussed in some

detail. Vaughan Williams uses the modes likewise in certain

other choral compositions. Following a brief discussion of

the complete work, the modal sections of Five TudorPortraits and Te Deum in E Minor will be discussed.

General Character of Five Tudor Portraits

and of Its Separate Numbers

Fj~ve. Tudor Portraits, written in 1935, is a choral

suite with orchestral accompaniment. The five numbers,

which are noncontinuous and may be performed separately, are

settings of poems by the sixteenth-century poet laureate,

John Skelton, about actual people of his acquaintance. Foss

calls the suite a "characteristic" work of Vaughan Wil-

liams', explaining that he means by the term "that it

combines under the one cover of the score a large number of

the many varied qualities combined in his personality." 1

According to Howes, "There is nothing new of a technical

1 Foss, Ralph Vaughan Williams, p. 160

51

nature in this suite, except perhaps the Bird Symphony.

. . But . . . the work as a whole marks an advance into

new territory."2

The first number of the suite, "The Tunning Lthat is,

"brewing"7 of Elinor Rumming," is an allegro lasting twelve

minutes and tells the story of the proprietress of a certain

ale house. Though relieved frequently by quieter passages,

the general mood of the number is boisterous--even, at

times, rowdy--because of the combination of fast tempo,

loudness, dissonance and clashing cymbals. One of the main

characteristics of the number is the frequent appearance of

the augmented fourth in the melody.

"Pretty Bess," which follows "The Tunning of Elinor

Rumming," is short, lasting only four minutes, and is marked

allegretto grazioso. In it the baritone soloist has the

leading role, the chorus serving mostly to echo his senti-

ments. Skelton's poem is one of the "courtly love" variety

and the music is harmonious, lyrical and modal.

The middle number of Five Tudor Portraits is an allegro

labeled burlesca and is a setting for the "Epitaph on John

Jayberd of Diss." Though it is not known exactly when

Skelton became rector of Diss, he was holding that position

2 Howes, Thje Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, p. 180.

in 150+, as certain legal documents show.3 According to his

poem, Jayberd was a rascally cleric who died in 1506, and it

is evident that in the two years or so in which he and

Skelton were acquainted, Jayberd had gained the thorough

dislike of his superior. The setting is for male chorus and

orchestra and lasts about three minutes. The music is

characterized by fast, steady rhythms with occasional

interruptions of rests or of slow rhythms; by chromatic

melodic lines which often move in half steps; and by the

frequent occurrence of major and minor seconds, major and

minor sevenths, and diminished fifths between the outer

voices or between adjacent voices (including the accompani-

ment).

"Jane Scroop: Her Lament for Philip Sparrow," which

comes next, is the longest number of the suite, with a

performance time of twenty minutes. In the poem Jane, a

schoolgirl, talks about her pet sparrow and about his un-

timely demise, caused by Gib the cat; she calls all birds to

his funeral and prays for the peace of his soul. Written

for female chorus and mezzo-soprano soloist, the music

fluctuates between moods of melancholy, enthusiasm, wailing,

vengefulness and resignation. In the "Bird Symphony," which

is the middle section of the three, both chorus and

3Philip Henderson, "Introduction," The Comfpte Poemsof John Skelton (London, 1931), p. ix.

orchestra fill the one hundred eighteen measures with

trills, staccato drumming, rapid arpeggios and many other

bird calls.

Concluding Five Tudor Portraits is "Jolly Rutterkin,"

which is called a 4 h rzo and lasts only four minutes. A

"rutter" is defined as a "dashing young fellow"; and

"rutterkin" is, of course, the diminutive, used here in

sarcasm. Since Skelton's poem contains only fourteen lines,

Vaughan Williams has appended to it a song from Skelton's

morality play Magnificence. Rutterkin was a foreigner just

come into town, extremely vain about his appearance. The

music is modal.

Modality in "Pretty Bess"

"Pretty Bess" is mostly in Aeolian mode, but it has

seven measures in Dorian mode and the final cadence is in

Ionian mode. The piece opens in E tonality, Aeolian mode

(measures one to twenty). The middle section (measures

twenty-one to fifty-eight) is in B tonality, Aeolian mode,

except for measures twenty-seven to thirty-three which

remain in B but change to Dorian mode. The last section

(measures sixty to the end) returns to B tonality, Aeolian

mode, with an abrupt final cadence on G, Ionian mode.

Philip Henderson, "Glossary," Five Tudor Portraits(London, 1935), P. 107.

Harmony in "Pretty Bess"

The outstanding harmonic features of "Pretty Bess" are

diatonicism, seventh chords, and an abundance of non-

harmonic tones. In only eight measures do any altered tones

appear. In measures seven, eight, sixty-two and sixty-

three, there are raised sixth scale-steps. In measures

forty-two, forty-four, fifty-three and fifty-five, there are

lowered second scale-steps. About one-third of the chords

contain a seventh, and non-harmonic tones occur in most of

the measures. Figure 18 shows the first five measures with

an analysis of the chords, Roman numerals according to the

traditional method of harmonic analysis and non-harmonic

tones circled:

5O6lo

3

All -= -Eq -.--

ii tic

Fig. 18--Five Tudor Portraits "Pretty Besst" measures

In this example the following non-harmonic tones are found:

1) anticipation, measure one, soprano line, ; 2) suspension,

measure two, alto line, a; 3) neighboring tones, measure

three, soprano line, thirty-second note d and dotted six-

teenth-note d, and measure three, soprano line, Lf; +) free

tone, measure three, soprano line, d; 5) appoggiatura,

measure three, soprano line, b.

It will be observed from Table IV that the tonic

function far exceeds any other function in percentage of

occurrence. There is only a slight, graduated difference in

the occurrence of chords of other functions, with the excep-

tion of the supertonic, the frequency of which is somewhat

less than that of the other chords. Perhaps the reason the

composer has used the supertonic triad less than all others

in "Pretty Bess" is that, in Aeolian mode, it contains a

tritone. There is only one other instance in the piece of a

chord containing a tritone; it is a subtonic seventh chord

in Aeolian mode.

TABLE IV

THE PERCENTAGE OF CHORDS OF THE VARIOUSFUNCTIONS AS FOUND IN "PRETTY BESS"

Percentage ofChord Function Occurrence

Tonictnc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Supertonic......... . . . 5Mediant . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 10

Subdominant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * * 14

Dominant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Submediant. . . . ., ........ 12

Subtonic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

As in the Mass in G Minr there are no chords on the

leading-tone.

Since some of the compositions under consideration

cannot be analyzed satisfactorily by the traditional method

of chord analysis, they will be analyzed by Hindemith's

method.5 In the case of the Mass.in Q Minor, except for the

one diminished triad, all the chords are major and minor

triads; therefore they are all in class I of Hindemith's

chord groups. An analysis of the chords in "Pretty Bess" by

the Hindemith method is given in Table V for the purpose,

mainly, of making later comparisons.

TABLE V

THE PERCENTAGE OF CHORDS OF THE VARIOUS CLASSIFIEDCATIONS AS FOUND IN "PRETTY BESS"

Chord Percentage ofClassification Occurrence

I11 . . w . 4.8

12 - - - - - - - * - . . - - - - - - - - - - - - . 12

IIb . . . * - * - - * * * * * * - - - * * - * 3IIII . . . - - - -" * - + . - - - 321112 . .. . . . . . . . . .---* * -* ----3

V " . . less. tban 1VI .----- . -, . . .." .. less than 1

Sixty per cent of the chords in "Pretty Bess" are major

or minor triads. Thirty-five per cent are chords with

See Hindemith, . cit., pp. 94-104, and Table ofChord-Groups in the back of the book, for an explanation ofhis method of chord analysis.

58

seconds, sevenths or both, but no tritones--class III. Five

per cent are chords containing tritones--classes II and VI.

The one chord in class V is a chord in fourths.

Modality in "Jolly Rutterkin"

In general, "Jolly Rutterkin" has three types of modes

-- Pentatonic, Aeolian and gapped-scale--and four tonalities

--B, A, Eb and C; and one or another of these factors

changes with every few measures.

For nineteen measures "Jolly Rutterkin" is pentatonic,

with a scale of b d e a. (See Figure 19.) In measure

twenty i appears and in measure twenty-one, ., making an

Aeolian scale starting on B. Measures twenty-two to twenty-

four are pentatonic; measure twenty-five is Aeolian; two

more measures are pentatonic. From measures twenty-eight to

forty-three the mode is predominantly Aeolian and the

tonality remains fB, though scattered measures are penta-

tonic. At measure forty-four the two sharps of the

signature are cancelled and there is a modulation by common

tone to A, Aeolian mode. After eight measures the music

returns to pentatonic mode for the remaining nine measures

of the section.

Alto

Ieet

$ A A- [

w

Fig. 19--Five Tudor Ptraits, "Jolly Rutterkin t 'measures 11-12.

The middle section (measures sixty-one to one hundred

thirty-six) is given mostly to the baritone soloist andbegins with an abrupt modulation to Eb tonality. For seven

measures the section contains no notes but eb bb and c

either in the accompaniment or in the vocal part. (See

Figure 20.) Then g is added; three measures later, ; and

in the following measure, d. In the next measure (seventy-

three) the tonality shifts to _, where for six measures the

.

ILI

I

_ .

60

So lo

Fig. 20--Five Tudor Portraits, "Jolly Rutterkin,"measures 64-67.

music contains only five tones--c deb g b--a type of C-

minor scale with two gaps. Then a sixth tone, f, appears;

and there are eleven more measures in C tonality.

Measures eighty-nine to one hundred seventeen are in Eb

tonality again and have a scale with raised third, sixth and

seventh but various gaps in some measures. Three short

groups of from two to four measures lack the fourth scale-

step; two short groups lack both third and fourth steps.

One group of measures contains only eb, bb and c. Only

measures ninety-three and one hundred fourteen contain a

fourth scale-step. In measure ninety-three it is a perfect

fourth, forming an Ionian scale; in measure one hundred

fourteen it is an augmented fourth, forming a Lydian scale.

From measure one hundred eighteen to one hundred

twenty-four the tonality is Q again. The first three

wr WWI

"

=6 a, MFw+ -ad's f ,. y.. , -... al.r 3s !f w-wewwww e+....w., .... . ...- t

.

61

measures contain only the five tones c eb g bb and thelast four measures add f.

Measures one hundred twenty-five to one hundred thirty-

six are in ja, in which the first four measures have no

third and fourth scale-steps, and the last eight measures

contain the full Ionian scale.

An abrupt modulation introduces the recapitulation, at

measure one hundred thirty-seven. The first five measures

are pentatonic: b d a. G enters in measure one

hundred forty-two and . in measure one hundred forty-three,

making the mode Aeolian in the latter measure and in

measures one hundred forty-six to one hundred fifty.

Measures one hundred forty-four to one hundred forty-five

and measures one hundred fifty-one to one hundred fifty-nine

are pentatonic. At measure one hundred sixty the two

signature sharps are again cancelled; but the mode remains

pentatonic at a different pitch-level, the scale being

c d e IL a. After nine measures the note b appears, bringing

about a modulation back to B tonality, Aeolian mode

(measures one hundred sixty-nine to one hundred seventy-

two). The final cadence is abruptly to D, Ionian mode,

similar to the final cadence in "Pretty Bess." (See page

54.)

62

Harmony in "Jolly Rutterkin"

Most of the texture of "Jolly Rutterkin" is a combina-

tion of melodic choral lines, short chords followed by

eight rests and a simple contrapuntal figure for one or more

instruments. (See Figure 19.) The chorus parts of "Jolly

Rutterkin" contain scarcely any chords, but are made up

almost entirely of unison melodies and intervals of two

tones. There is a good deal of contrapuntal overlapping of

melodies, but hardly ever of more than two melodies at a

time. (See Figure 21.) A large number of the harmonic

Fig. 21--Five Tudor Portraits, "Jolly Rutterkin,"measures 16-17.

intervals which occur between the choral voices are either

fourths, fifths or octaves. (See Figures 19 and 21.)

63

Since it is impossible to classify a number of the

chords in "Jolly Rutterkin" as tonic, dominant, and so

forth, the Hindemith method of chord classification has been

applied to the work. Table VI gives the percentages of the

various classes of chords found therein.

TABLE VI

THE PERCENTAGE OF CHORDS OF THE VARIOUS CLASSIFI-CATIONS AS FOUND IN "JOLLY RUTTERKIN"

Chord Percentage ofClassification Occurrence

11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

I2 - -" . . . . 29

IIIi. . ." . . . 31

II12 -. - --. - - . . ". . . " . .w . . 29V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . 0 3

Table VI shows that Vaughan Williams has avoided all chords

with tritones (classes II, IV and VI) in "Jolly Rutterkin."

The majority of his chords are in class III, those contain-

ing seconds and sevenths but no tritones. Many of the

chords are simple triads--class I; most of these are in

inversion--class 12. The few chords in class V are, in this

work, chords in fourths.

It is interesting to note Vaughan Williams' method of

harmonizing the pentatonic mode, as shown in "Jolly

Rutterkin." In the pentatonic portions which have the scale

of b d e f a, the accompaniment usually contains the chord

am. d _fa. Frequently occurring with this chord in the

contrapuntal instrumental figure is an e, probably a

64

non-harmonic tone, as the chord sometimes occurs without it.

(See Figure 19.) In that section of the music (measures

one hundred sixty to one hundred sixty-seven) which uses the

pentatonic scale c d e a, the harmony consists of the C-

major triad and the interval a-d, used alternately to the

final cadence,which is on an A-minor triad.

General Character of Te eum in E Minor

Two of the recent works of Vaughan Williams are Te Deum

and Benedictus, which were copyrighted in 1954 and are not

listed in Grove's catalogue of his works, referred to on

pages 5-6. The Te Deum is for unison or mixed voices, with

occasional optional harmony, and has an accompaniment for

organ, harmonium or piano. It is published, together with

the Benedictus, as sixteen pages of octavo size.

Vaughan Williams has fitted the ancient text of the

"Te Deum" to psalm tunes and has supplied his own harmony.

These tunes are identified in the score at their first

occurrence; no sources are given. "Old 104th" appears three

times in the Te, Dm, somewhat in the manner of the princi-

pal theme in the third rondo form. After a three-measure

introduction, there are two stanzas of the principal psalm

tune, then a stanza of "Song 13," with a repetition of the

last two phrases. "Old 104th" enters again, this time in

three abbreviated stanzas: 1) measures seven, eight, part

of fourteen, and measures fifteen and sixteen of the

65

original tune are omitted; 2) the tune begins with the

second measure; 3) only the first phrase and the last are

used. Three stanzas of the tune "Croft's 136th" come next,

to which an extension of four and a half measures is added.

Again we hear "Song 13," two stanzas. "Old 104th" completesthe T fDaum; first is the full stanza, then the second half

and finally phrases one and four.

Modality in the Te DeuThe A Daum is partly modal and partly major. One

hundred twelve measures are in Aeolian mode, seven are in

Dorian mode and eighty-seven are in a major key. Vaughan

Williams has put "Old O14th" in E tonality and in Aeolian

mode, except for measures twenty-seven to thirty-seven and

seventy-nine to ninety, where he uses the key of G major.

"Song 13" appears only with major harmony. The second and

third stanzas of "Croft's 136th" are treated modally, though

both stanzas end in D major. Stanza two of "Croft's 136th"

(measures one hundred sixteen to one hundred twenty-seven)

is in B tonality and Aeolian mode, except that the second

phrase (measures one hundred twenty to one hundred twenty-

three) is in 2f tonality, Aeolian mode, and the ending is in

major. The third stanza of "Croft's 136th" begins in fBtonality, Aeolian mode. From the second phrase (measure one

hundred thirty-three) to near the end of the stanza (measure

66

one hundred forty-one), it is cast in .Ff tonality and Dorian

mode, however, without transposition of the melody.

Harmony in the Modal Parts of the Te Deum

The harmony in the Tee is predominantly diatonic

and it contains a great many seconds and sevenths. Many

measures are not very well suited to analysis by the

traditional method; for, as Figure 22 shows, it is not

always possible to say conclusively which tones are harmonic

and which are nonharmonic. The traditional method of

Vo ctee

?EII*0 t I"

Fig. 22--Te Dum, measures 173-176

analysis offers no satisfactory explanation for these chords

shown in Figure 22: 1) a chord in fourths, one of which is

augmented; 2) an A ninth chord without a third, or an Aseventh chord without a third with a B pedal tone; 3) an A

ninth chord with no third.

Since the traditional method of chord analysis is

unsatisfactory in analyzing the Te Deum the Hindemith

67

method is used. Several measures beginning with the first

chords in the Te De are shown in Figure 23 to illustrate

this method.

III t, 1 LI.L I, i. i II I ,W, f 1 Q iI.,

Vcices

Fig. 23--T. Qeum, measures 5-14

A complete analysis of the modal parts of the Te Deumreveals the percentages of chords of the various types, as

shown in Table VII.

68

TABLE VII

THE PERCENTAGE OF CHORDS OF THE VARIOUSCLASSES AS FOUND IN TE DEU

Chord Percentage ofClass Occurrence

IV .. * . . . . .. . . . .. . - . - - -Le tha- 30V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Less .h.n23IIa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Ilbi . . . . . . . " f.. . . . . " . . 1

IIb2 - . - - --. - - -." .". . 4

IIIi . . . . . . . . . . . . " . 16

111 .2 .. . " . ., . ." . ." . .f . ." . 23

I'" .I ....., . . . . .Less than 1

IV2Y .- - - . - - - - . . - . . . . ". . " 1V . - . ," . . .Less than I

It will be seen that the composer has used triads (class Il

and 12) for a little more than half his chords. Chords

containing no tritone but seconds, sevenths or both (class

III1 and 1112) comprise the greater part of the remainder--39 per cent of the total. Chords with tritones (all chords

of classes II, IV and VI) constitute about 8 per cent.

There is only one class V chord, a chord of fourths,

located in measure sixty-four.

CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSIONS

Modes Used

In reverting to use of the modes, Vaughan Williams has

shown decided preferences for certain modes over others in

the Mass in G Minor and in the modal parts of Five Tudor

Portraits and Te Deum in E Minor. In the Mass Dorian and

Mixolydian modes are used more than any others. One section

of the "Credo" (measures one hundred twenty-five to one

hundred fifty-two) is in Aeolian mode, as are other short

portions. A great many parts of the work have no certain

mode, but combinations of chords taken from two or more

modes. Most frequently used of these combinations of modes

is Mixolydian mode for all the chords but the mediant which

is "borrowed" from Dorian or Aeolian mode--a major triad

constructed upon a lowered third scale-step.

"Pretty Bess," which is the second of the Five Tudor

Portraits, is in Aeolian mode except for seven measures in

Dorian mode and the final cadence in Ionian mode. "Jolly

Rutterkin," the concluding number of the same work, has

three types of modes--pentatonic, Aeolian and gapped-scale

modes of several varieties.

69

70

In the Te eum, Vaughan Williams has used two modes and

several major keys. A little more than half the work is in

Aeolian mode, a few measures are Dorian and the rest is in

major keys.

Harmony

Although Vaughan Williams was one of the first of the

modern composers to draw upon the modes for basic material,

he has developed no stereotyped formula of modal harmony.

He approaches each work in a different manner.

In the Mass he has limited himself to triads, plus a

few nonharmonic tones and passing sevenths; yet in each

section of the Mass the same harmonic material is used

differently. The "Kyrie" is in Dorian mode, has an A B A

form with middle section in the tonality of the dominant,

is constructed contrapuntally and has only a few altered

tones. The "Gloria" has no certain mode, contains much

chromaticism, but remains within a well defined tonality for

each section. Phrases in block chords and phrases in

counterpoint are used in contrast, with an occasional

monodic section included. In the "Credo" chromaticism

results in twelve distinct changes of tonality, as well as

in other non-modal uses of chromatic chords. A few sections

of the "Credo" are written in definite modes; most of the

"Credo" is in no certain mode. The material is put together

largely in block chords. The "Sanctus" is chiefly

71

Mixolydian, with several unexpected chromatic cadences.

Likewise the two "Osannas" are primarily Mixolydian while

the "Benedictus," which comes between them, is mostly

Aeolian and in a tonality a step higher than that of the

"Osannas. " This fourth number of the Mass ("Sanctus"-

"Osanna I"-"Benedictus"-"Osanna II") is more contrapuntal

than harmonic, but contains a good many block chords and

some monody. Though the "Agnus Dei" is in no one definite

mode, the first half, approximately,(to measure thirty-

three), tends toward Phrygian mode, and the rest toward

Mixolydian mode, with chords from other modes in each half.

The first section alternates every few measures between two

tonalities; the last half remains in G tonality. The "Agnus

Dei" is, for the most part, homophonic.

Throughout the Mass, chord progressions by root move-

ment of a step are more common than those by root movement

of a third or of a fifth. Table III shows a number of

unusual cadences which are found in the work.

Abounding in nonharmonic tones and seventh chords,

"Pretty Bess" is also almost strictly diatonic. "Jolly

Rutterkin" is composed about 60 per cent of dissonant chords

which contain seconds, sevenths or both, but no tritones;

38 per cent of triads and 3 per cent of chords it fourths.

Like "Pretty Bess" it has very few altered tones. The

chords of Te.Deum are about 52 per cent triads, 39 per cent

72

dissonant chords without tritones and 8 per cent chords with

tritones. Although it is principally diatonic, there are a

good many altered tones.

In common with the Mass, "Pretty Bess," "Jolly Rutter-

kin" and Te eum demonstrate the avoidance, altogether or in

part, of chords containing tritones. Only once does a chord

with a tritone occur in the Mass--a single diminished triad.

In "Pretty Bess" about 5 per cent of the chords contain a

tritone while not a chord in "Jolly Rutterkin" has one. In

the Te . about 8 per cent of the chords have a tritone.

"Jolly Rutterkin" and Te, eum proved to be hardly

suited for chord analysis by the traditional method; there-

fore the Hindemith method was used for all the works under

consideration. However, the Hindemith method, as applied to

the Mass, reveals only that the chords are 100 per cent in

Class I. So the Mass and "Pretty Bess" have been analyzed

by both methods. A comparison of the Hindemith chord

analyses for the several works shows that in these composi-

tions, the composer has used very few chords other than

classes I and III. In "Pretty Bess" and Te Deum the

majority of chords are in class I while in "Jolly Rutterkin"

the majority are in class III.

Counterpoint in the Mass in G Minor

Of the compositions under discussion, only the Mass in

G Minor is contrapuntal. Like the counterpoint of the

73

sixteenth century, that of the Mass is based on imitation.

There are two instances of canons: 1) a double canon sung

simultaneously by the two soprano sections, with the other

voices adding further counterpoint; 2) a quadruple canon

sung simultaneously by each section of chorus I with the

corresponding section of chorus II. A few tonal answers and

several stretto passages afford the only other contrapuntal

devices used to any considerable extent in the Mass.

Summary

To summarize in general the use of modes by Vaughan

Williams, it could be said that the works that have been

analyzed are characterized by frequent use of the tradi-

tional modes, but in a very free manner. The "Kyrie" of the

Mass, "Pretty Bess," "Jolly Rutterkin" and T~e eum are con-

fined somewhat closely to given modes, with some changes of

mode, changes of tonality and use of altered chords. The

"Gloria, " "Credo," "Sanctus," "Osanna I," "Benedictus,"

"Osanna II" and "Agnus Dei" of the Mass, however, contain

many striking chrometicisms. These chromaticisms are the

result of use of many altered chords, a good deal of modula-

tion and much combining of modes, often with startling

cross-relations. The use of seventh chords in "Pretty

Bess," "Jolly Rutterkin" and Te Deum further complicates the

picture from that of the sixteenth century.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Ewen, David, editor, The Book of Modern Copsers, New YorkAlfred A. Knopf, Inc.,7T9 +2.

Even, David, The Complete Book of 20th Century Music, NewYork, Prentice-Hall, Inc., l9T2.

Fellowes, Edmund Horace, Th English Madrigal Composers,Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1921.

Foss, Hubert James, Ralph Vaughan Williams, London, OxfordUniversity Press, 1950.

Henderson, Philip, editor, The Complete Poems of JohnSkelton, London, J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., 1931.

Hindemith, Paul, Te Craft of Musical Composition, 4th ed.,Book I, translated by Arthur Mendel, New York,Associated Music Publishers, Inc., 1941.

Howes, Frank Stewart, Te Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams,London, Oxford University Press, 1954.

Morley, Thomas, A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical_ , edited by R. Alec Harman, New York,~W. W. Norton

and Company, 1953.

Scholes, Percy Alfred, The Oxford Companion to Music, 9thed., London, Oxford University Press, l5.

Wooldridge, H. E., The Polyphonic Period, Part II, Vol. IIof The Oxford Histor of Music, 2nd ed., revised byPercy C. Buck, London, Oxford University Press, 1932.

Encyclopedia Articles

Apel, Willi, "Point," Harvard Dictionary of Music, Cam-bridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1944.

Blot, Eric, "Frank Howes," Grove's Dictionary of Music andMusicians, 5th ed., Vol. IVT(London, 1937.

74

Foss, Hubert J., "Vaughan Williams, Ralph: Catalogue ofWorks," fGrovelsDictionary off Musi and Musicians, 5thed., Vol. VIII, edited by Eric Blom, London, MacMillanand Company, Ltd., 195+.

Howes, Frank S., "Vaughan Williams, Ralph," Grove'sDictionary p fMusic and Musicians, 5th ed., Vol. VIII,edited by Eric Blom, London, MacMillan and Company,Ltd., 195+.

Music Scores

Vaughan Williams, Ralph, Fve _ Portraits, Piano-VocalScore, London, Oxford University Press, 1935.

Vaughan Williams, Ralph, Mass in G Minor, Curwen Edition,New York, G. Schirmer, Inc., 1922.

Vaughan Williams, Ralph, Te Deum and Benedictus, London,Oxford University Press, 195+.