An Introduction to America’s Music

316 PART 3 | FROM WORLD WAR I THROUGH WORLD WAR II

tempos converge on the downbeat of each bar, then diverge. The vocal nota-

tion indicates some notes to be sung on precise pitches and other notes to be

spoken following a less precise contour; the mixture of singing and speaking

creates an expressionistic effect called Sprechstimme, which Arnold Schoenberg

had used powerfully in his 1912 work Pierrot lunaire, a favorite of the American

ultramodernists.

The piano part displays Crawford’s original adaptation of Schoenberg’s most

famous innovation: serialism. The serialism of Schoenberg meant arranging all

twelve notes available within the octave into a fi xed pattern or row, which could

then be manipulated by quasi-mathematical means to generate a stream of con-

stantly changing pitches that, though thoroughly atonal, would be unifi ed by

their derivation from the original row. In “Chinaman, Laundryman,” Crawford

modifi es Schoenberg’s serialism by creating a nine-pitch row. Each bar of the

piano part contains either nine notes or silence. The fi rst bar (after three bars of

silence) states the original row; the second bar states the row beginning with the

second note and ending with the fi rst; the third bar states the row beginning with

the third note and ending with the fi rst two; and so on. After working through all

the rotations, the whole process repeats, with the original row now transposed

down a half step. Moreover, the nine notes of each bar fall into one of three rhyth-

mic patterns, which also are rotated according to a quasi-mathematical scheme.

While in traditional accompanied song, a high-register vocal melody is

often supported by accompanying chords in the lower and middle registers,

here the relationship is the opposite, with the piano’s melody generally higher

than the voice, dipping down into the vocal register only a few times in the song.

The resulting “dissonated” texture suggests a programmatic intent: the singer’s

free-fl owing declamation may represent the individual worker, who struggles

against the implacable operation of the capitalist “machine,” represented by

the brittle, rigidly structured music of the piano. Put to a political purpose, this

highly intellectual yet powerfully emotional song proves that for Crawford,

writing music was no mere “problem in mathematics.”

The composition in 1932 of “Chinaman, Laundryman” marked the end of

Crawford’s most productive period as a composer. She would compose only

sporadically over the remaining two decades of her life. It is hard not to infer a

CD 2.14 Listening Guide 13.1 “Chinaman, Laundryman” RUTH CRAWFORD SEEGER

Listen & Refl ect

1. The vocal part mixes speaking and singing (Sprechstimme). What would be either gained
   or lost if it were entirely sung or entirely spoken?


2. Crawford’s score does not specify that the singer must be female, although the only per-
   formances in her lifetime were by a female singer. Would the song be equally effective if
   sung by a man? Why or why not?


3. Instrumental accompaniments traditionally support the singer, but here the piano
   provides no support; if anything, it makes it harder for the singer to fi nd her pitches.
   How does that antagonistic role help or hinder the effectiveness of the performance?

serialism

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