The Microtonal Application of Boleslav Yavorsky’s Theory of Modal Rhythm in Sergei Protopopoff’s book “Elements of Construction of Musical Language”

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Anton A. Rovner

Abstract

Composer Sergei Protopopoff was a representative of the Russian modernist music of the early 20th century, a student of music theorist Boleslav Yavorsky, who created the Theory of Modal Rhythm. Protopopoff expounded Yavorsky’s theory of modal rhythm in his book “Elements of Structure of the Musical Language.” The “Yavorsky modes” are formed from various types of resolutions of “unstable” intervals into “stable” ones. The last chapter of this book Protopopoff establishes the laws of Yavorsky’s theory into microtonality. In conjunction with the “unstable” tritone, the other intervals, determined as “stable,” are adapted to the new laws of the corresponding microtonal scales. The attempt to expand Yavorsky’s theory into the domain of microtonality presents a bold gesture, very much in the spirit of the composers and music theorists of the early 20th century.

Keywords: Protopopoff, microtonality, Yavorsky modes, contemporary music, new music theory

Article Details

How to Cite
Rovner, A. A. (2012). The Microtonal Application of Boleslav Yavorsky’s Theory of Modal Rhythm in Sergei Protopopoff’s book “Elements of Construction of Musical Language”. Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal’noj Nauki, 11(2), 147–153. Retrieved from https://musicscholar.ru/index.php/PMN/article/view/371
Section
Technique of Composition of the 20th Century
Author Biography

Anton A. Rovner, Moscow state Conservatory. P. I. Tchaikovsky

composer and musicologist, holding a degree of Candidate of Arts (PhD), a faculty member of the Department of Interdisciplinary Specializations of Musicologists

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