Contribution to a Future Theory of Supra-Octave Modes. Case Study: Ștefan Niculescu’s Late Works
Contribution to a Future Theory of Supra-Octave Modes. Case Study: Ștefan Niculescu’s Late Works

Summary/Abstract: In the present study I attempt an ordering, a systematization of the supra-octave modes, without intending to exhaust the theoretical treatment of this subject, because the combinatorial and expressive possibilities, the compositional processes attached to the supra-octave area are, in fact, infinite. I outline in the first part some classification criteria, according to which I show that the supra-octave modes can be: penta-octave modes, tempered modes, “octave” supra-octave modes, generated by relating each step to the previous step and by the translation of a model, containing the total chromatic, repetitive, homogenous, or artificial. Then, in the second part of the study, I identify and present in detail the complex supra-octave modes used by the Romanian composer Ștefan Niculescu in some of his most important late works (Psalmus, Undecimum, Deisis, and Litanies at the Fullness of the Time).

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