This chapter offers a reading of Parole di San Paolo, a fourth-phase work that, like An Mathilde, has been virtually ignored by scholars. The analysis examines this work in particular and the fourth phase in general. It models the twelve-tone techniques and strategies, the small-scale and large-scale form, and the pitchclass and set-class associations on the surface. Particular emphasis is placed on showing how changes in partitioning strategies articulate changes in the form.

Parole is written for medium voice and an instrumental ensemble that includes two pairs of woodwinds (flute/alto flute, and clarinet/bass clarinet), pitched percussion (celesta, piano, harp, vibraphone), and viola and cello. On the whole, its soundscape is more Webernian than Schoenbergian, and recalls the linear orientation and polyphonic textures of such first- and second-phase compositions as the Quattro liriche di Antonio Machado, Goethe-Lieder, and An Mathilde. A few passages look forward to the sound ideal of Sicut Umbra, the first work completed after Ulisse. One of its most striking attributes is a mutable approach to text setting: virtually every line of the text evokes a change in dynamics, texture, rhythmic profile, and partitioning strategy. As a result, the surface changes frequently, and cantabile passages with soft dynamics and thin textures are juxtaposed with furioso passages with loud dynamics and thick textures.

From a technical standpoint, Parole draws its techniques from all four serial phases. First-phase features include the use of cross partitions, periodic structuring, and a transparent orchestration and ethereal atmosphere. Second-phase features include floating rhythm (schwebender Rhythmus), a prohibition against octave doublings, and the (Webernian) procedures of trichordal derivation and axial symmetry (with both even and odd index numbers). Features common to third- and fourth-phase works are a fluid approach to row handling and aggregate formation, some rhythmicized Klangfarbenmelodie, a prevalence of ultra-soft dynamics, and, especially, the Schoenbergian ideal of associating segmental and nonsegmental harmonies. (These procedures are explained in due course.) By the same token, Parole spurns many procedures that are found in the surrounding compositions (namely, Preghiere, Three Questions with Two Answers, and Ulisse), avoiding hexachordal inversional combinatoriality, leitrhythms, un-pitched percussion, and thick sound masses.