Trumpet Sonata, Op.1 (1955)

Trumpet Sonata, Op. 1

The first movement of Trumpet Sonata, Op. 1 by Peter Maxwell Davies uses the concept of developing variation to present motivic material. Davies manipulates rhythm and pitch as means to develop the motives heard at the beginning of the movement. Through the separate structuring of rhythm and pitch Davies demonstrates his Messiaen influences. Through this process of developing variation, Maxwell Davies rejects sonata form; which would be to expected from the first movement of a sonata.

Trumpet Sonata, Op. 1 was written by Peter Maxwell Davies at the age of 21, while studying at the University of Manchester in Manchester England. The premier of the Sonata was given by two friends and colleagues of Davies's at the University, Elgar Howarth and John Ogdon.

This Sonata was a modernist work in comparison to his other compositions while at the University. This Sonata is uniquely positioned in regard to other sonata's written for the trumpet around 1955 as it is a serialist work, whereas others used much more traditional and tonal features.

According to Philip Rupprecht, "One senses in the Sonata Davies's contemporary interest in the rhythmic structures of Indian music, and it is among those few early scores in which he uses fully chromatic sets rather than the smaller pitch groupings oh his later practice." The use of fully chromatic sets is evident throughout the first movement of Op. 1. In fact, the first several measures of the piece introduce the types of sets to be used throughout the movement. One of which is a fully-chromatic row and the other is non-sequential.

If the first movement of the Trumpet Sonata, Op. 1 by Peter Maxwell Davies was to be analyzed by adhering to the formal boundaries of sonata form, it would likely look something like this:

• Exposition: mm. 1-22
  • P1: mm. 1-12
  • TR: mm. 13-14
  • P2: mm. 15-22
• Development: mm. 23-50
• Recapitulation: mm. 51-73

However, it is likely that Davies intentionally rendered the large-scale form of this movement to be ambiguous. In an article by Rodney Lister titled "The ghost in the machine: sonata form in the music of Peter Maxwell Davies," Lister poses the question as to " . . . what gives the earlier works the quality of suggesting that they are haunted by the form without actually partaking of it . . . " Lister does not reference the Trumpet Sonata when attempting to answer his own question. However, by referring to the "earlier" works, it must be noted that the Trumpet Sonata, Op. 1 was written in 1955, which predates the compositions examined by Lister (Second Taverner Fantasia, 1964, and Symphony No. 1, 1976). Based on Lister's assertions about the ghostly qualities of sonata form, it is reasonable to view this Sonata through a similar lens.

Lister describes the "ghost" of sonata form as follows:

The aspects of sonata form that seem to have been the most problematic for Davies in his earlier music were those of development and recapitulation. Classical development is a process that involves fragmenting the melodic material and expanding, contracting, or reassembling the fragments in some new way, leading to them somehow being reshaped. In contrast to these procedures, Davies has developed a method of transformation of material whereby a sequence of notes, treated more or less as a cantus firmus, is subjected to an isorhythmic process in which it is repeated, so that in the end it becomes effectively new material.

I find a critical aspect of Lister's comments to be the implied distinction between melodic material and a sequence of notes. From listening to the music one is not likely to hear much, if any, resemblance of melody. Due to the absence of melodic material in favor of the use of serialism, Davies engineers a method in which he can avoid repetition. As Lister states, " . . . like many composers since Mahler, Davies also has an abhorrence of repetition, so the idea of anything like literal recapitulation is, to say the least, problematic."

It is because of Davies's abhorrence of repetition and the absence of melody that the motivic fragments discussed are subject to the process of developing variation. Because of this avoidance of repetition, it is most likely that the first movement of this sonata is through composed. The culmination of these motives is found in the final two measures of the first movement. Here, all components of this developing variation are presented simultaneously for the first time. This event marks the conclusion of the movement. Until this moment, each of the motives (identified below) is constantly varied from its original statement as well as its preceding variation. The extensive development of these motives permeates the entirety of the movement, appearing throughout each formal section of a sonata form analysis.

The following sections of this site highlight the means by which Peter Maxwell Davies avoids the usage of sonata form in the first movement of Trumpet Sonata, Op. 1. Two rhythmic motives, labeled R1 and R2, as well as a singular pitch motive (P) are discussed in terms of how they aid Davies's avoidance of repetition and adhere to processes of developing variation. The specific processes undergone by these motives are discussed and summarized on each section of this site.

Lister, Rodney. "The ghost in the machine: sonata form in the music of Peter Maxwell Davies." In Peter Maxwell Davies Studies, edited by Kenneth Gloag and Nicholas Jones, 106-128. Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Rupprecht, Philip. "Thematic drama in early Peter Maxwell Davies: from Op. 1 to the First Taverner Fantasia." In Peter Maxwell Davies Studies, edited by Kenneth Gloag and Nicholas Jones, 45-78. Cambridge University Press, 2009.