Roslavets’ "Synthetic Chord" Technique

Nikolai Roslavets’ contribution to modern Russian music was not lighted until the end of 20 th century.The “synthetic chord” technique is a kind of novel pitch organization method used in his various experimental works.Before the creation,first design a “synthetic chord”,which not only controls the horizontal structure of the work,but also controls the vertical part of the work,and finally achieves a highly unified artistic effect.This thesis mainly focuses on the piano miniatures "Five Preludes" composed by Roslavets’ “synthetic chord” technique.Through the analysis of tone set,trasposition,and structure of the work,the paper is discussing about the pitch relationship and its internal structural strength and unity.The thesis is divided into four chapters.The first chapter mainly introduces the life and creation stage of Roslavets.The second chapter mainly introduces the basic principles of the music of Roslavets’ “synthetic chord” technique,using pieces in the early works of Roslavets to analyze the pitch relationship between the “synthetic chord” and its transpositional forms;the third chapter is the focus of this paper,mainly about the arrangement of the “synthetic chord”,the connection between the “synthetic chord”,transposition,underlying structure and rotation.The fourth chapter is aimed at a summary of the “synthetic chord” technique that we observed in the Five Preludes.The chapter V is mainly about the assertion that Roslavets’ "synthetic chord" technique is the path to new music.