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The entire opera is based on a twelve-note row which is used not serially, but tonally, It is first heard at the beginning of the opera in pizzicato cellos and basses. It is harmonized as Dorian's theme and then as the painting's theme. As the painting disintegrates and becomes corrupted, so does its theme. The twelve consecutive scenes of the opera occur in the keys of the consecutive pitches of the note-row. In this manner the entire opera becomes one grand passacaglia, a variation of Dorian's theme, a picture of the picture the tonal structure generated by a non-tonal device a further metaphor for the form/content divide that generates the novel's dramatic structure.
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