Motivic Development through Metric and Graphic Notation in Stockhausen's Klavierstücke

Indianapolis, IN

In his composition fundamentals book, Arnold Schoenberg wrote that, “Consciously used, the motive should produce unity, relationship, coherence, logic, comprehensibility and fluency.” In his many academic writings about composition and theory, Schoenberg says that the use of motivic variation requires a balance of moderate change so the manipulated segment is still coherent. In addition to studying and describing Brahms’s developing variation, Schoenberg also created a new system of serializing all 12 pitches, and set the trend for serial music that many composers still utilize today. While composers use serial techniques of note selection and even serialization of other musical aspects like articulation and dynamics, some composers have developed methods of notation to reflect motives. I contend that in his Klavierstück IX and X, Stockhausen utilizes unique extended notational techniques to manipulate motives that make them more clear to the performer, and make the motivic development more apparent to the listener. Although a close examination of pitch collections might reveal to the performer important motives that can inform things like phrase shaping and bringing out important lines, Stockhausen’s use of extreme meter can help connect different sections for the perform, and in turn make them more clear for the listener. Additionally, unconventional use of graphic notation shows connections and relationships between motives that may have otherwise required close analysis, or been missed altogether. My research of these works clarifies the techniques and their proper usage for composition and analysis.