ABSTRACT
In the 1920s Soviet musical avant-garde, Alexander Mosolov’s was a unique voice—acknowledged as such by both his compatriots and his Western counterparts. What made that voice original was its idiosyncratic amalgamation of modernist compositional techniques, including ways of organizing pitch space. Although Mosolov’s oeuvre has figured prominently in recent theoretical scholarship, there has been no systematic treatment of pitch organization in his music. This chapter (1) identifies some elements of pitch organization in Mosolov’s first “mature” work, his Piano Sonata No. 1 (1924), and explains the concept of (post-)tonal space that the music engenders; (2) brings attention to the prevalence of octatonicism—one element of Mosolov’s style not yet addressed in any scholarship; and (3) touches on Mosolov’s serialism. Octatonic collections—and their interactivity—are at the heart of the work, and octatonicism both coexists with and defines other referential systems (diatonic, whole-tone, and linear-chromatic). The work also exhibits serial elements. Mosolov’s treatment of his melodic-harmonic cell (or series) offers a distinct take on Roslavets’s “synthetic chords.” Privileging transposition, Mosolov’s serialism is inextricably linked to traditional formal functions. Close examination of the Piano Sonata No. 1 suggests connections to other works that made Mosolov’s reputation in the 1920s.
