A Cry For Unity

Sebastián Modarelli - Often, when we react to something, we focus on the object that provokes the reaction but rarely consider the subject who is provoked. A breathtaking sunset may leave us in awe, yet we seldom question why it has such an effect on us. We feel joyful when someone we love is affectionately attached to us, when we are appreciated and desired, but how often are we amazed by the fact that we are created with these longings? In short, how often are we astonished by our own nature, by the fact that we are made this way?

One of these inherent longings is the need for unity. Our nature cries out for it, whether expressed through cohesion, symmetry, or the movement of different elements toward a common goal (or, more precisely, toward their origin). This need arises without our conscious decision, and we rarely recognize it. It is so pervasive that unity permeates everything we do, including music.

A striking example is the second movement of Dmitri Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony, composed shortly after Stalin’s death. All the material of this movement is contained within the first two to three seconds, where the ideas to be developed are already present in a single motive. An unrelenting rhythm serves as the accompaniment motive, while a three-note ascending motive in the upper strings gives rise to the chromatic nature of the melodic journey.

Soon after, the oboes and clarinets present the complete theme, based on this initial cell, in an augmented rhythm (the pitches remain the same, but the notes are extended). What follows, even the composer could not have predicted until he wrote it. It is always thus: you obey what is given to you. Indeed, it seems as if the initial motive escapes the composer’s grasp, frantically moving through chromatic and diatonic upward progressions to lead the theme to an inconclusive end.

The middle section builds on this inconclusive movement, with interjections from the original theme (for instance, in the bassoons). The re-exposition (the third section) presents the theme in a further augmented rhythm, now in the brass section. By this point, you will be overwhelmed by this unified thought that has kept your heartbeat on edge. We warn you: hold on to your seat, for you are in for a thrilling ride!

As always, great composers are not those with many ideas but those who deeply engage with the one they hold. Indeed, they are the ones who reflect on what they see and consider the impulse those ideas provoke in the subject.

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