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The Double Trajectory:
Ambiguity in Brahms and Henry James
ROLAND JORDAN AND EMMA KAFALENOS
Even initially and prior to analysis, certain Wingrave" suggest such a relationship. The
works elicit a recognition of the significant story begins:
characteristics they share. The ability to
confirm a typology by perceiving similarities in "Upon my honour you must be off your head!"cried
a group of works from about the same time is Spencer Coyle as the young man, with a white face,
the basis of historical periodization, and one stood there panting a little and repeating"ReallyI've
method of testing its validity. A parallelcorrela- quite decided," and "I assure you I've thought it all
out" (p. 269).1
tion in the way we experience works of the
same period from different art forms challenges This conversation brings us into the story in the
us to expand the scope of our approach.Com- midst of what is clearly an ongoing scene, an ar-
parative analysis can increase our understand- gument between two men: Spencer Coyle and
ing of the works themselves, clarify the useful- Owen Wingrave. As we read on, we gain little
ness of the methodologies of each field, and lead further information. We cannot begin to ask
to increasingly precise and accurate descrip- ourselves how the story will develop, much less
tions of historical typologies.
end; we can only attempt to discover the subject
The opening moments of Brahms's Inter- of the disagreement.
mezzo, op. 119, no. 1, and HenryJames's"Owen
i(y)
i(x)
9 12 i 16
rit.
I,
Ad I ---l- fl
- " j<pN b ~d I L lo-- ._N
am
10-
:10E
TT49
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~g
#
t
h
'):## ~ ~~-,9:qliU q~~ '1~~4L?"'~~ Cr
^-
I
(x) III (x) 4I1
i (y)
I
i(x)
s
< P ~----~ ~
cresc.-
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3 r-i ^- ; -- ^" ; jr
'
j - ; 4 5Y i; 3
. ^
55
The temporal movement of narrative, as Kra- sidering narrative structures, Greimas sees
mer demonstrates, is different from the tempo-
ral movement of lyric poetry (pp. 7, 10). The the need for a fundamental distinction between two
combinatory (or syntagmatic) patterns of the levels of representation and analysis: an apparent
two genres are not the same. In poetry, repeti- level of narration[the text we read],at which the di-
verse manifestations of narrativeare subject to the
tion is more available at several levels; nonse- specific requirements of the linguistic substances
mantic patterns are more readily perceived. through which it is expressed, and an immanent
Studies in narratology, however, have identified level, which is a kind of common structural trunk
syntagmatic or combinatory structures in nar- where narrativity is located and organized at the
rative for which parallels can be discerned in stage precedingits manifestation.6
music. The nonsemantic level on which op.
119, no. 1, and "Owen Wingrave" show similar- 6AlgirdasJulien Greimas, "Elementsof a NarrativeGram-
mar"(1969),in On Meaning:Selected Writingsin Semiotic
ities has perhaps been most clearly described by Theory,trans.PaulJ.PerronandFrankH. Collins (Minneap-
the French structuralist A. J. Greimas. In con- olis, 1987),p. 64.
132
The "common structuraltrunk" is the object of III JORDAN/
KAFALENOS
our investigation, although we are looking for Although both the Intermezzo and "Owen Brahmsand
equivalent structures not in a set of narrative Wingrave"achieve closure, neither ending is as Henry James
texts but in a text and a piece of music. convincing as we might expect in works from
Narratology is a branch of structuralism, a 1892. The questions about continuity that are
theoretical activity whose origins arein linguis- raised at the beginning of both indicate the pos-
tics, and which spreadfrom there to anthropol- sibility that each work has more than one tra-
ogy, literary theory, and other fields. One of the jectory. To explore this pattern initially on the
tenets of structuralism is that language, be- "apparent"or local level, let us analyze one of
cause it is a human construct, provides a model James's sentences, knowing that a sentence-
through which to explore other human con- even a sentence by HenryJames-is a trajectory
structs, including art works. To demonstrate in that is expected to conclude.
simple terms the relationship between struc-
tural linguistics and narratology,let us consider The second of the little boys in England,who was at
the sentence, which can be defined as an ongo- Paramorewith his grandfather,became the peculiar
ing trajectory-a combinatory or syntagmatic chargeof his aunt, the only unmarriedone, and dur-
structure-that is articulated into slots to be ing the interesting Sundaythat, by urgentinvitation,
SpencerCoyle, busy as he was, had, after consenting
filled by words from appropriatecategories. If to put Owen through,spent underthat roof, the cele-
we take as our model trajectory bratedcrammerreceived a vivid impressionof the in-
fluence exerted at least in intention by Miss Win-
Article-Noun-Transitive verb-Article- grave(p. 278).
Adjective-Noun,
What is most immediately apparent is the den-
we can move from model to sentence by select- sity of the structure, the stoppages, the very
ing words from the categories (orparadigms)the number of commas, the quantity of disparate
model trajectory(or syntagma)specifies: information. Reading the sentence again and
The cat scratches an antique chair. underlining, this time, in each of the units sepa-
The pianist plays a difficult sonata. rated by commas the words that initially seem
most important, we select perhaps: little boy /
The semantic message dependson the selection grandfather / aunt / her marital status / Sun-
of words from the specified paradigms,but also day / invitation / Spencer Coyle / busy as he
on the structure of the trajectory(orsyntagma). was/ had. This is the point, it would seem,
If we reorderthe syntagma where the linearity of the sentence nearly dis-
solves, seeming to turn back upon itself. When
Article-Adjective-Noun-Transitive verb- we read the word "had," if we remember "Sun-
Article-Noun, day"-the Sunday Coyle had at Paramore-we
assume that the dependent clause has con-
the statement changes: cluded, and that a new independent clause will
begin.
The difficult pianist plays a sonata. But the dependent clause does not stop at this
point. Let us look at it in its entirety:
What Greimas and other narratologistspro-
pose is that the structure of an ongoing syn-
tagma (or trajectory),along with paradigmsof duringthe interesting Sundaythat, by urgent invita-
elements to fill its articulatedunits, is a pattern tion, Spencer Coyle, busy as he was, had, after con-
senting to put Owen through, spent under that
that can be found at the "apparent"level of the roof.
sentence, and also on "immanent" (abstractor
"deep") levels of structure. We propose that The word "had," we discover, instead of turning
similar patterns underlie music, and that on an back to "Sunday," leads ahead to "spent": "had
immanent level the trajectoryof an individual spent." Even at the "apparent" level of syntax,
text and of a composition may show striking the direction of the trajectory is not immedi-
similarities. ately discernible. The significance of traditional
133
19TH narrative structures rests upon two assump- one,and... the celebratedcrammerreceiveda vivid
CENTURY tions on the partof the reader,that the narrative impressionof the influenceexertedat leastin inten-
construct is both teleological and causal. If we tion byMissWingrave.
perceive a series of events in the externalworld, The sentence contains two independent
we do not assume that it is necessarily a se-
quence shaped with an end in view, nor do we clauses, in a tense indicating a completed past
assume that because event A precedesevent B it action, held together only by the coordinating
necessarily causes event B. Inherent to the nar- conjunction "and." Each is a separate trajec-
rative pact, whether as readerswe are conscious tory. The first pertains to a distant past, the sec-
of it or not, is our assumption-once we label ond to a more recent past. The first denotes an
the text we are reading as narrative-that it is event, the second the perception of it, the per-
teleologically constructed to lead to a particular ception of its intent. The first, even in its com-
end, and that if event A precedesevent B we will plete form with all of its words, is much less
dense than the second.
probablydiscover that event A causes event B. If In this sentence as well as in James'swork as
either teleology or causality is brought into
a whole, his language grows increasingly dense
question, the reader'sstable position in the nar- as his focus turns from the event to the percep-
rative universe is undermined.When we cannot
tion of it, through the filter of the character
immediately discern the direction of the trajec- whose consciousness he is dramatizing. Nor
tory in the clause we are considering, teleology can the emphasis on perception occur, even at
on the local level is subverted.
the local level, without a double trajectory:a se-
Readingthe clause once more, let us consider
it from the perspective of order and causality. quence of events and a sequence of perceiving
The "Sunday"Coyle had spent, we know, is in them. Because of the nature of perception,
the past; the "invitation" presumablypreceded which can shift from the present to a reconsid-
ered past, there is no final end to which the
it; "Coyle, busy as he was" indicates a progres- reader can assume a sequence of perceptions
sive past of description that may continue
will teleologically lead. Nor can events that are
throughout the whole sequence; the "consent- told in the orderthey are perceivedbe expected
ing to put Owen through" is probablyprior to to retain the causal relationship implied by the
the invitation that precedes the Sunday. If we
reorderthe completed actions accordingto the order in which they occur. Even at the local
sequence in which they seem to have occurred, level, James'ssentence bringsinto question the
we begin with the "consenting to put Owen underpinnings of the narrativepact, undermin-
through," which results in the "invitation," ing teleology and causality.
which leads to the "Sunday"visit to Paramore.
The orderof the telling-the Sunday,the invi- IV
tation, the consenting-reverses the order of In the nineteenth century there still existed a
the action: the consenting, the invitation, the pact between composer and listener according
Sunday.The latter is a causal sequence: the con- to which, in spite of seeming disruptions at the
senting causes the invitation, the invitation "apparent"level, at the "immanent" level the
causes the Sundayvisit. When the events arere- work would be causal, teleological, and closed.
orderedin the telling, the causal chain is sub- Any tonal piece is a complex organization re-
verted; the visit does not cause the invitation. sulting from the interactions of horizontal and
The reorderedsequence of the telling, at the lo- vertical, local and large-scalerelationships. The
cal level, alreadybegins to undermine the narra- outcome is a process, a trajectory,the percep-
tive pact. tion of which allows us to compile potential ele-
Now let us go back to the other part of our ments of the completed structure even as the
sentence, this time looking at its skeletal form, music extends. The degree of complexity of a
the way it readswith both dependentclauses re- specific work seems to be the result of the den-
moved: sity of the relationships, or of the levels of rela-
tionships, we are led to constitute. The signifi-
The secondof the little boysin England... became cance of certain interactions is heightened by
the peculiarchargeof his aunt,the only unmarried the introduction of conflict between the power-
134
ful forwardthrust characteristic of tonal music JORDAN/
and resistance created by specific materials and KAFALENOS
Brahmsand
textures. Much of the dramaresides in the suc- Henry James
cessful completion of the tonal structure de-
spite various kinds and degrees of resistance. In
the Intermezzo the trajectoryof the musical dis-
course is constrained by its sheer mass of detail
and deflected by ambiguity and the irregulari-
ties in the continuity of its structure.7The pact Example 5: Series of descending thirds.
between composer and listener is seriously
weakened.
In listening to the opening measures of the metric structureis not supportedby melodic ca-
piece, we can entertain at least three readings. dences, and the repetition of m. 4 in the sixth
In each of the first three measures, the falling measure is in conflict with the four-barhar-
thirds can be heard as a single chord, an inter- monic periods. Cadencing in neither B minor
pretation that is supportedby the resolutions in nor D major, the melody is unable to reach a
mm. 2 and 3 of the melody. But we also respond conclusion; in m. 12 it dissolves into repeti-
to pairs of triads, particularlyin the second and tions of the motive from m. 4 which lead us into
third measures; this second reading is rein- F#minor. The same procedureoccurs at the end
forced by the cross-hand pattern in the transi- of the piece where, beginning in m. 47, after an
tion that begins in mm. 43-44. A third reading exact restatement of the first eight measures of
treats the first four measures as one unit, the ex- the melody, its dissolution is altered and ex-
pression of a single series of descending thirds tended. Even in its final occurrencethe melody
which is "turned"or stoppedby the A# and Ft of is not clearly in B minor.
m. 4 (ex. 5).8 A similar but extended series con- In a more traditional piece, tonal ambiguity
tains the pitches of the transition and the return in the melody can be clarifiedby the bass voice.
to the initial material (mm. 43-50). Having dis- In this piece, however, the bass itself is ambigu-
covered three readings, we begin to understand ous until mm. 15-16, where it defines not B or
the richness of the initial moments of the piece. D, but F# minor. Farfrom simplifying our read-
Like one of James's clauses, Brahms's opening ing of the trajectoryof the music, the relation-
refuses merely to move forward. ship between the outside voices adds a new
The melody that grows out of these opening level of density. For three measures the bass
measures is tonally ambiguous. Unaccompa- pitch seems to "force" melodic change in the
nied, it is apt to be heard in D. Implying no ten- top voice, but the continuation of the bass line
dency toward closure, it evolves for eight mea- imitates the soprano, at the seventh in mm. 4-
sures until its further extension is frozen by the 5, at the fifth in mm. 6-7. Additionally, since
repetition that begins in m. 9 (ex. 1). Nor is its the imitations are offset by only an eighth note,
rhythm as obvious as it initially seems; the the counterpoint between the two voices pro-
duces an unexpected rhythmic complexity. In
the move toward F# minor in mm. 12-16, the
imitative relationship between soprano and
7Althoughambiguity is an essential factor in the temporal
unfolding of a tonal structure,in many works, includingop. bass reemerges, first at the third and then at the
119, no. 1, the degreeand the sheer quantity of ambiguous fourth. This passage is the first in which the
relationshipsgo beyondthose associatedwith the tonal sys- bass articulates a clear tonality.
tem. Studies of Brahms's work in particularhave treated
ambiguity on several levels, including rhythm,phrase,har- The tonal ambiguity of the melody and the
mony, tonality, and form. See, for example, Jonathan bass line in the opening measures is reflected in
Dunsby, Structural Ambiguity in Brahms: Analytical Ap- the local harmonic structure. The first three
proaches to Four Works (Ann Arbor, 1981); and David Ep-
stein, Beyond Orpheus: Studies in Musical Structure (Cam- measures seem to be in D major, but in the
bridge,Mass., 1979),esp. chap. 8, "Ambiguityas Premise." fourth measure there is a V4of B minor. The ex-
8In an alternative approach to the thirds cycle, Dunsby
treats the thirds of mm. 1-4 as two cycles, the first falling pected resolution in m. 5 is weakened, however,
from F# to A, the second from F# to At (StructuralAmbi- by the delay of the pitch B until the second beat,
guity, pp. 94-95). and the simultaneous move to G in the bass.
135
19TH Also in m. 5, the significance of the A# is re- called i (x),prove to be inversions of the original
CENTURY duced by its position following an A~ and its ab- sets. The following diagramdemonstrates this
MUSIC
sorption into a cambiata-like appoggiatura trichord complex and designates certain state-
figure. Reinforcedby the neutralizationof Af by ments of its elements.
Bb, mm. 6-7 again sound as if they were in D
major.The metric conflict createdby the repeti- i(x) i(x) i(x) occurrences
tion in m. 6 of the sopranopitches of m. 4 draws x E F# A mm. 58-60 (bass)
attention to the differentharmonizations of the x DE G mm. 1-3, 47-49 (bass)
x B C# E mm. 62-64 (bass)
figure, the first ending on a V4 of B, the second
on a V4of D. Only on the last beat of m. 8 is the m. 63 (sopr.)
dominant of B minor reinstated, but it leads us
back to the ambiguous sonority first heardin m. m. 62 (sopr.)
1. Although the periodicity of the occurrences
m. 59 (sopr.)
of the F# dominant chords in mm. 4 and 8 gives
them more force than they might otherwise ex- Late in the work we realize that much of the
ert, the four-bar symmetry is in conflict with music has been generatedfrom this trichordand
the structure of the melody. The first uncon- its variants:
tested tonality, F# minor (minorv of B, the me-
diant of D), emerges in the passage from mm.
trichordx = maj 2nd + min 3rd (set 3-7)
12-16 and ends with an F#-majorchord, one
that sounds more like a Picardythird in Ft than trichordy = min 2nd + maj 3rd (set 3-4)
a dominant of B.
In addition to the sheer density that is created trichordz = min 2nd + min 3rd (set 3-3)
on the local level by rhythmic and tonal ambi-
guity, Brahms'spiece-like James'ssentence- Trichordsx and y and their inversions permeate
refers to earlier details, directing our attention the piece (ex. 1, 4, 6).9 Trichordz provides the
simultaneously to the present moment and to lowest notes for the final (distorted)reference
the past event it seems to reinterpret.Forexam- (mm. 55-57) to the opening measures.
ple, when the pitches of m. 6 are duplicatedin a In readinga sentence by Jameswe must wait
different tonal context in mm. 24-25, the pass- until its completion to know how the parts fit
ing Bb of m. 6 is understood as a subtle borrow- together, but we can always pause and reread
ing from D minor (ex. 6). until the trajectory or trajectories are clear. In
The most dramaticof these instances occurs listening to music we must hear a work again.
at the end of the piece. The lowest pitches of Although we continue to learn about the struc-
mm. 58-60 form a pattern that is designatedin ture of any piece of music as it extends, in the
the examples as x (set 3-7 in Allen Forte'sclas- Intermezzo Brahms forces us to reappraiseand
sification system). This trichord, transposedin reinterpretthe complex web of relationships to
mm. 62-64 (ex. 4), re-createsthe pattern of the an unusual degree. The Intermezzo does not
lowest pitches in the first three measures of the simply unfold. It grows by making constant ref-
piece (andtheir repetition in mm. 47-49). Both erence to or commentary on what has come be-
transpositions, like the initial version, are dis- fore, with an amazing concentration on in-
tributedin three-measureunits, drawingour at- structing us about how the piece is made. As if
tention to the pattern itself and forcingus to re- in an apprenticeshipto the work, we learn more
evaluate the significance of its earlier and more as it extends. This is an idea to which
statements. Looking closely at the three tri- we will return.
chords Brahms so clearly articulates, we note
that the seven pitch classes are those that are
common to D majorand B minor. Furthermore, 90nly the obvious occurrences of these trichords are
a set made up of the first pitch of each trichordis marked on exs. 1-4 and 6. Many of the pitches in the piece
an inversion of the original (ex. 7). As a result, if can be generated from these sets. It is possible to segment m.
1, for example, to yield three x trichords (E-Ft-A, D-E-G,
the pitches of these crucial statements aregiven A-B-D), three i (x) trichords (B-A-FO, A-G-E, E-D-B), one
horizontally, the resulting vertical trichords, y trichord (F#-G-B), and one i (y) trichord (G-F#-D).
136
24 28 JORDAN/
KAFALENOS
Brahms and
Henry James
140
JORDAN/
KAFALENOS
Brahmsand
HenryJames
0
O1.
141
19TH information that is inserted both within andbe- text, the obstructions that arise in the endeavor
CENTURY tween the individual conversations. can illuminate the complexity inherent in the
MUSIC
Reading, one perceives both trajectories si- double trajectory.To readJames'sstory initially
multaneously: watching the events unroll, and merely to discover what has happenedis unre-
also watching Coyle watch them unroll. A very warding; the density of the language precludes
long sentence near the end of the story offersan rapidreading,and the ending producesas many
example. Note that Coyle discovers what has questions as answers. An analytical reading of
happened by perceiving Kate Julian's response James's story most resembles the reading of a
to it, while we learn about it by watching Coy- detective story, a genre that characteristically
le's response. portrays its events as two separable,although
sometimes overlapping, chronological se-
At a turnofoneofthepassages[Coyle]cameuponthe quences: one series of events that culminates in
whitefigureofa girlin a swoonon a bench,andin the a crime, and another series that leads to its de-
vividnessof the revelationhe readas he went that tection. Since both of these sequences in a de-
KateJulian,strickenin herpridetoo latewith a chill tective story are easily understood in initial
of compunctionfor what she had mockinglydone,
had,aftercomingto releasethe victim of her deri- readings, to suppress the memory of them can
sion, reeledaway,overwhelmed,fromthe catastro- add excitement to later readings. In James's
phe that was her work--the catastrophethat the story, however, since no clear idea of what has
next moment he found himself aghastat on the happenedis ever available,and since the percep-
thresholdof anopendoor(pp.318-19). tion of the event, not the event itself, is height-
ened emotionally, a third stage of readingis no
In this climactic passage, it is the perception of
more successful than an initial reading. In
the event that is heightened emotionally, not
"Owen Wingrave,"the text instructs the reader
the event itself. to move to an analytical mode, on the first and
In a comparative study of the perception of
music and literature, EdwardT. Cone outlines any subsequent readings.
Cone's primarymusical example is Brahms's
three stages of reading and rereading,taking as
his example one of the stories about Sherlock Intermezzo, op. 118, no. 1, which he readsas if it
were a mystery story in which the mystery is
Holmes. According to Cone's schema, after an
the detection of the tonic. Although the first
initial linear reading that follows the sequence
of the telling to discoverwhat has happened,the reading identifies the tonic, it is only after fol-
readermoves to a second stage in which he ana- lowing a number of false "leads"that one even
recognizes that a mystery exists. In a second an-
lyzes the sequence of the telling to determine alytical stage, the tonal relationships are cla-
its relationship to the sequence in which the
rified and the piece can be seen as a unified
events occurred, a sequence remembered and
reconstructed from the earlier reading.In what structure, but the mystery fails to materialize.
The third stage, in which a portion of the analy-
Cone proposes as an ideal third stage of reading, sis is suppressed, allows us to appreciate the
the process of thought is portrayed as double
diachronic linearities of experience and mem- mystery, this time informed by an understand-
ing of the terms of its projection. Cone finds es-
ory; the readeris fully attentive to the sequence sential to a successful hearing of op. 118, no. 1,
of the telling, while suppressing memory suf- the ambiguity that results from the fact that
ficiently to retain as much excitement as possi- harmonic functions and tonal relationships
ble.15
If we attempt to re-createCone's three stages emerge in specific contexts in time, while real-
of reading, adopting "Owen Wingrave"as our izing that the ambiguity dissolves when, with
the insight gained from analysis, the mystery in
all its facets is solved.
In op. 119, no. 1, however, Brahmshas done
"EdwardT. Cone, "Three Ways of Reading a Detective more than exploit ambiguities inherent in the
Story-or a Brahms Intermezzo," Georgia Review 31 temporal progression. The intensity of his ma-
(1977), 554-74. Cone also uses the term "a double trajec- nipulation of ambiguous relationships in this
tory" (p. 558), not as we do to describea structuraltype (an
aspectof a work)but to representthe doublediachronicline- piece results in a structure that cannot be re-
arities of the third stage of reading(apatternof perception). duced to a single tonal trajectory.The piece is
142
not analogous to a mystery story; its B-minor bility in a form that still remains closed. It is JORDAN/
KAFALENOS
ending is not surprising, nor does it "solve" is- characterized by a weakened closure that Brahms and
sues raised by the music that precedes it. By lessens the finality of its conclusion, and by a Henry James
maintaining both the B and D trajectories, degree of density that demands great attentive-
Brahms has created indeterminacies that analy- ness to detail. Commenting on an earlier ver-
sis cannot resolve without destroying not only sion of this study, Lawrence Kramer raises the
the enjoyment but the very identity of the question of how these works, and others of the
piece.'6 Induced to engage in a series of analyti- period that are similar in their degree of density
cal readings, the listener is not given solutions and ambiguity, "give a stylistic impression of
that resolve the ambiguities, but rather is in- insistent, even exaggerated continuity."18 We
structed how to appreciate their beauty as well propose that the solution, at least for these
as the depth of their significance to the struc- works, lies in the manner in which the two tra-
ture of the piece. jectories are combined.
Todorov discusses "the representation of the Recent approaches to narratology suggest
process of learning [which] reaches its apotheo- that sequences or trajectories may be combined
sis in the work of a Henry James . . . where we in addition to simply linking one after another,
are often told only the apprenticeship process either by embedding one within another, or al-
without ever learning anything at all."'7 In the ternating parts of one with parts of the other.19
story, both the trajectory of the sequence of Embedding creates a hierarchy of container over
events and the trajectory of Coyle's perception the contained; alternating creates gaps and dis-
of the events can be discerned. The apprentice- continuities. In twentieth-century works one
ship process through which Coyle learns to un- often finds the discontinuities of alternating
derstand the events he is perceiving represents patterns, or of an embedding that escapes hier-
our experience as we read the story, and as we archy by reversing it: the container holds the
listen to the Brahms piece. Although ultimately contained, which also holds the container. In
the Intermezzo is in B minor, and "Owen Win- our two works, however, with their "insistent
grave" is a ghost story, to perceive them only as continuity," neither pattern seems to apply. In-
such is to lose the very richness and ambiguity stead, in the James story and the Brahms piece,
on which their value rests. The double trajecto- both trajectories which make up each double
ries of both works undermine the stable posi- trajectory seem simultaneous and unbroken.
tion of the perceiver in the causal, teleological We demonstrate this pattern perhaps most
universe of a single-trajectory work, forcing the clearly with reference to the double trajectories
reader and the listener to attend to the details in we have just been discussing in the story: the
the way Coyle attends to the details of what he trajectory of events and the trajectory of the per-
perceives. In an apprenticeship like Coyle's, we ception of events. Every perception Coyle gives
learn how to perceive the story and the piece as us adds to our information about the events;
we read and listen to them. everything we learn about the events is given to
us as one of Coyle's perceptions. Each moment
VIII of the story adds simultaneously to both trajec-
Viewed historically, the double trajectory tories.
may be seen as a transitional structure, one that In the Brahms piece too, the same material
allows the introduction of a high degree of insta- conveys both trajectories. Most of the pitches
and many of the tonal constructs in B minor and
D major are identical. In more traditional tonal
16Weare arguing against readings that validate a single tonal works, the combination of pitch collection and
interpretation. Dunsby, for instance, marks the harmony of ordering guides us in the determination of key.
the opening measures of op. 119, no. 1, as if they were in B In this work, as we have seen, we lack the most
minor and summarizes the form as two B-minor sections
flanking the D-major middle section (pp. 89-91, 101). Even singly significant of such relationships, the
though Dunsby's discussion of the piece stresses its ambi-
guities, he insists on resolving the tonal question, reading
the piece as a mystery story (to be solved).
'7Tzvetan Todorov, Introduction to Poetics (1968, 1973), "In a letter to the authors, 2 June 1987.
trans. Richard Howard (Minneapolis, 1981), pp. 57-58. 9Todorov, Introduction to Poetics, pp. 52-53.
143
19TH dominant-to-tonic cadence. Even those pitches demonstrating a lack of courage.In each pair of
CENTURY
that in other contexts would denote one key or trajectories,in all three cases, every event con-
the other, in this piece raise the question of tributes to the ongoing process of both trajecto-
whether to interpret them as decorative in one ries. The ambiguity created by the double tra-
key or as indicative of the other. Even at the jectory, while still avoiding the discontinuity of
level of plot in the James story, our third deep- twentieth-century patterns, places the "com-
structure double trajectory, the pattern of si- mon structural trunk" of our two
multaneous trajectories holds. What indicates works exactly at the end .
to one perceiverthat Owen is very brave,for ex- of the nineteenth century. .
ample, indicates to someone else that Owen is
144