A study and analysis of the instrumental theme and variations in Benjamin Britten’s The turn of the screw

iv, 127 leaves ; 28 cm. Bibliography: leaves 125-127.Benjamin Britten's opera The Turn of the Screw is a chamber opera written in 1954 which presents a strikingly original blending of twelve-tone concepts in a tonal context, as well as possessing a noteworthy formal structure. The opera is constructed of a prologue followed by fifteen short scenes and interludes. The interludes are specifically orchestral and are manifested as variations on a twelve-note "theme" heard in the prologue. This work reflects a Wagnerian influence in its use of character motives, representative key areas and associative tonality to symbolize characters and events. Many recurring vertical sonorities and all of the melodic motives are derived from the twelve-note theme. Viewed as a twelve-tone "row" this series of pitches has several remarkable qualities: it is infinitely cyclic, Webernesque in that it yields only two of the four possible linear transformations, and is all-combinatorial. The exploitation of the row, however, is exclusively tonal, as it was carefully chosen so as to facilitate a tonal treatment. The properties of the row and its serial implications will be discussed, but emphasis will be placed on its more significant tonal applications, including its function as a source for motivic and harmonic material. The key areas are defined by the interludes, each of which is in a new tonality (which also causes the "row," being yielded in each variation, to be presented at all transpositional levels). The key areas shape an arch--paralleling the opera's dramatic action. The first act is an ascent through the natural keys, as the dramatic exposition of introducing the characters and places (natural elements) is completed. The second act's key scheme is an inversion of the first's, descending through the chromatic "black-note" keys while presenting ghosts, spirit possessions and other unnatural and supernatural events, and finally resolving in the opening tonality as the ghosts are banished. This rising cycle of key changes can also be viewed as one dimension of the "turning of the screw." The associative tonalities are reserved for the two ghosts, each of whom is consistently accompanied by a specific pitch, tone cluster and/or instrument. Britten's wide-ranging, "eclectic" approach to composition poses some problems of focus for analysts of Britten's music. In the instance of The Turn of the Screw, twelve-tone and set-class functions need to be considered, yet the primary perspective must be that towards a tonal work. The fragmented form also presents the question of how Britten succeeds in presenting a coherent and cogent "whole." This thesis will consider each interlude separately and discuss how and why it works, through whatever means, or combination thereof, Britten chose to use for that variation. A cross-disciplinary approach is necessary, as harmonic, linear, set-class and serial techniques all play a role in the making of this music