Axis Tonality and Submediant in the Music of Shostakovich

[1] Shostakovich's music often features third relations in various forms and at various levels of structure. On a local level, for example, a passage might blend a pair of third-related keys, such as a major key merged with its relative minor. On a larger scale, Shostakovich conveys a strong preference for modulating to the mediant or submediant. For instance, Figure 1 lists all of the string quartets in which Shostakovich begins by modulating up or down by third from the original key-a total of eight out of fifteen, or just over half. On an even larger level, Shostakovich occasionally uses third relations to link pieces written years apart from each other. To take another example from the string quartets, Figure 2 shows that among the first six works, each new one is in a chromatic submediant key compared to the previous one, whereas among the last six quartets, each new one is now in the diatonic submediant key of the previous one.(1)Figure 1. Opening modulations in several ofShostakovich's fifteen string quartetsFigure 2. Inter-opus third relations among thefirst six string quartets, and the last six[2] Despite its significance for Shostakovich's tonal thinking, no one has focused in depth on the question of third relations in his music.(2) The following study pursues this topic by investigating a specific aspect of this phenomenon-in particular, by exploring several works that each embody in different ways the principle of axis tonality developed by Joseph Straus for the music of Stravinsky (Straus 1982). Following a brief review of Straus's concept, the first (and main) part of this essay employs it in discussing the first movement of the First Cello Concerto (1959) and the second movement of the Third String Quartet (1946), then culminates with a more detailed axis reading of the E major Prelude from the Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues (1950-51). The second (shorter) section rounds out the discussion by considering some historical precedents for this facet of Shostakovich's harmonic practice. In particular, it argues that a conspicuous emphasis on the submediant, evident in all three analyses, forms of thread of continuity linking Shostakovich's music back to the nineteenth-century Russian tradition.Axis Tonality in Shostakovich: Three Examples[3] Straus's model of axis tonality can be understood as a specific formulation of the more general concept of tonal pairing (or the double-tonic complex), introduced by Robert Bailey in his work on Wagner.(3) According to Straus's model, a tonal axis comprises a pair of third-related triads, one major and one minor. These triads overlap in such a way that they share two common tones, and therefore combine to form a major or minor seventh chord. For example, for the first movement of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, Straus posits an axis comprising the notes E-G-B-D (in other words, an E minor triad overlapping with a G major triad). As Figure 3 illustrates, this axis underlies the movement's large-scale tonal trajectory, which leads from the lower portion of the axis (the E minor triad) to the upper portion (the G major triad).[4] Along with describing the basic form of an axis, Straus specifies several further requirements that an axis must satisfy: first, it must play a central, generative role within the harmonic structure of the piece in question; second, it must appear explicitly at some point in the music (as a "discrete harmony," in Straus's words); and third, it must "embody a conflict or polarity between its two constituent triads" (Straus 1982, 265). Straus's axis for the Symphony of Psalms meets these conditions: it plays a central role in the movement by encompassing its overall tonal motion; this motion composes out a polarity between the two triads of the axis; and finally, the axis itself does appear explicitly (albeit fleetingly) as an arpeggiated E minor seventh chord in the middle of the movement, as shown in Figure 4. …