THE ATONAL TRAIL
Mr. Leibowitz, like many other critics, suffers from a dogmatic ac–
ceptance of a biased interpretation of musical history. It seems to me
that the traditional division of musical history into four periods: homo–
phonic, polyphonic, monophonic, and harmonic is entirely erroneous.
It is an interpretation which confuses the elements of musical language
with stylistic periods. Polyphony is by no means a musical element. It
is a style of composition. It is a technique concerned with what has been
called the "proper and beautiful conjunct motion of melodies." The
elements of music are melody, harmony, and rhythm. They are always
present in any musical composition. Speaking historically, however, these
elements emerged as "clear and distinct" ideas only through a long evolu–
tion of Western musical culture. It is this gradual emergence of these
three musical elements as conscious ideas which forms the great historical
cycles of our musical civilization. At present, the harmonic cycle is de–
clining while the rhythmic cycle is rising out of the exigencies and con–
tingencies of the harmonic past. While Schonberg has carried the har–
monic cycle to its logical conclusion, Stravinsky has been investigating,
from his
Sacre du Printemps
to his
Third Symphony,
the new domain
of rhythm.
Nicolas Nabokov
585
