ABSTRACT

Skalkottas conceives the set-groups within a single movement as contrasting keys, each section being associated with a different group. The group of sets in the opening section of a movement is treated as functionally similar to the tonic region in a tonal composition, and becomes a reference for the ensuing development. There are essentially two theoretical approaches to sonata form that twentieth-century composers may adopt; the binary, eighteenth-century structure, and the essentially ternary nineteenth-century equivalent. The two-part, eighteenth-century sonata type is shaped by the polarization of contrasting thematic material, texture and, most importantly, harmonic areas, with the latter being the essential form-generating element. In several of his large-scale orchestral compositions, particularly those based on a significant amount of diverse pitch-class material and which use a free twelve-note technique, Skalkottas establishes the large-scale harmonic and formal structure of a movement by employing not only different twelve-note set-groups in each section, but also their transpositions.