A Glimpse at Iuriĭ Kholopov’s Garmonicheskiĭ analiz

Abstract

Iuriĭ Kholopov’s Garmonicheskiĭ analiz (Harmonic analysis) is a three-volume anthology, intended to accompany his textbook Garmoniia: Prakticheskiĭ kurs (Harmony: a practical course), which formed the basis of the harmony courses he taught at the Moscow Conservatory in the 1980s. This paper provides a small glimpse into the anthology, particularly volume 3. This volume, which deals primarily with non-tonal music of the twentieth century, is the only one with its own subtitle: hemitonicism. The subtitle refers to a simple, intuitive analytical system in which groups of intervals that involve one or more semitones play a prominent role. The paper concludes with an examination of Kholopov’s analysis of Denisov’s Romanticheskaia muzyka (Romantic Music) for oboe, harp, and string trio (1968), a representative example of the analyses in Garmonicheskiĭ analiz’s third volume.