Prolongation in the Choral Music of Benjamin Britten
David Forrest, Texas Tech University
This paper will explore prolongation in the music of Benjamin Britten. Because Britten's music features both tonal and post-tonal characteristics, a prolongational analysis should proceed with caution. While vertical sonorities in these works are mostly triadic, horizontal motion, both at the surface level and at deeper levels, is often governed by symmetrical divisions of pitch space that give the music a decidedly post-tonal sound. In some cases, dissonant harmonic structures constitute the deepest level of prolongation in Britten's music. Therefore a prolongational graph of Britten's music that aims to highlight this observation must undergo some conceptual modification -- namely, the acceptance of a background structure that outlines a symmetrical interval cycle rather than prolongs a triad. In this paper, I will use analyses of Britten's choral music to show how symmetrical divisions of pitch space can be employed as prolongational devices at foreground, middleground and background levels.