2×2: Thematic Construction in Åke Hermanson’s In Sono

Abstract

The surface of Åke Hermanson’s In Sono, op. 12, is made of a small number of motives and abstract types of figures, such as oscillations or repetitions of single pitches. However, these statements are not (and are not intended to be perceived as) random outbursts. A close reading of the work reveals that Hermanson elucidates his motivic boundaries and his patterns of motivic presentations by presenting motives and combinations of motives in pairs, through which he articulates longer thematic units. The largest structure is a rotational form, as defined by Hepokoski and Darcy). To make the structure clear, Hermanson presents two contrasting ideas in Rotation 1, then uses those ideas to frame new material added in each of the two following rotations.